Harvard Medical School’s groundbreaking microscopes could lead to breakthroughs in cancer detection and lifespan research. However, the scientist who developed computer scripts to read the images to get the fullest possible potential was in the immigration detention center for two months. It puts important scientific advances at risk.
Scientist, 30-year-old Russian-born Xenia Petva, worked at Harvard’s famous Kirschner Institute until his arrest at Boston Airport in mid-February. She is currently being held at the Richwood Correctional Centre in Ice in Monroe, Louisiana, where she is fighting the possibility of deportation to Russia, where she says she fears persecution and prison time for protests against the war in Ukraine.
Petrova’s incident and the detention of scholars across the country have undermined the ability of American universities to recruit and maintain key talent, Petrova’s colleagues said. In areas where expertise is often highly specialized, loss of talent can have disastrous global consequences for the future of medicine and scientific discovery. Scientists and faculty members said they are planning to leave agencies across the country as they are worried that their visa could be revoked or swept by immigration behavior.
“I’d call it a grinder,” Petrova, who spoke to NBC News from a Louisiana facility, said he was in custody. “We are on this machine, we don’t care if we have a visa, a green card or a specific story.
Petrova’s first immigration court hearing in Louisiana is scheduled for Tuesday morning. Her attorney, Gregory Romanowsky, said she expects more information about her asylum case after the hearing.
Dr. Leon Peshkin, a leading research scientist at Harvard University’s Faculty of Systems Biology and Petrova’s manager and mentor, received a call from Customs and Border Protection on February 16 after the agent detained Petrova at Boston’s Logan International Airport for failing to declare a sample of frog embryos used in scientific research.
“I got called out and said, ‘She’s been denied entry. That’s all I can tell you to protect her privacy,” he said. Peshkin added that the caller did not disclose Petrova’s whereabouts and was rushing to pursue her.
Romanovsky said CBP usually imposes two penalties for such customs violations. Forfeiture of the item and usually about $500, “the fine is usually reduced to $50 for the first violation.” Instead, authorities cancelled Petrova’s J-1 academic visa.
“It appears to be part of a broader effort to create an unwelcome, hostile environment for non-citizens,” Romanovsky said.
A DHS spokesman told NBC News on Monday that Petrova was “legally taken into custody after lying to a federal officer about carrying material into the country.”
“They asked me if there was a biological sample in the package. I said yes,” Petrova said before explaining her confusion about the interrogation by customs and border patrol officers.
“No one knew what was going on with me. I had no contact with anyone, not my lawyer, Leon, and the next day they didn’t say what was going to happen.
Kseniia Petrova. (Petrova’s lawyer)
Peshkin said international researchers are becoming increasingly concerned about responding to the Trump administration’s aggressive approach to illegal immigration. When asked if they were worried that these policies might discourage other international scientists from coming to Harvard, he said: “I might that.
“It already works. I hear from many colleagues that people planning on staying because they need to travel have changed their minds,” Peshkin said, adding that scientists often attend conferences around the world to present research and share knowledge.
A recent survey by the science journal Nature found that 75% of the 1,600 scientists surveyed are considering moving to Europe or Canada, citing actions taken by President Donald Trump. Separately, the tracking database from Inside Higher ED shows that as of April 18, more than 240 universities and universities report over 1,550 international students and recent graduates have changed their legal status by the US Department of State.
Within the Higher ED report, approximately 180 international students filed 28 federal lawsuits seeking to regain student and exchange visitor program status or US visas. A candidate in the litigation field, filed by an international student in his PhD, argued on April 15 that the recent termination of the visa is “arbitrary, whimsical, and violates constitutional rights, power, privileges or immunity.” Plaintiffs argue that sudden policy changes threaten their academic and professional futures.
Harvard recruited Petrova about two years ago. She graduated from the prestigious Russian Institute of Physics and Technology and was highly recommended, Peshkin said. She also attended the same high school in Moscow that he did. He explains it is for “people who are usually selfless and devoted fanatic scientists, ascetics.”
“These are people who are not involved in science to make money. They belong to science because they feel that it is their mission to understand how nature works and finds treatments,” Peshkin said.
Peshkin soon saw this quality with Petrova’s dedication to her work and willingness to surpass computational science. He explained that their lab research “you have to be able to work as an embryologist and be able to apply mathematics, modeling, data analysis and bioinformatics, so you need a unique set of skills because everything is in one package.”
When asked how many people in his lab could do all of that, he simply said: “It was her. It was her.”
Others reflected that sentiment. Petrova’s colleague and housemate, Dr. William Trim, a fellow postdoc, used a unique microscope to highlight his irreplaceable role in research projects. Petrova has developed a computer script to analyze 100,000 images contained in a microscope.
“I’m sure she is the only way she can achieve the true possibilities of this microscope and the insights we can have,” Trim said. “I totally believe that without her, we wouldn’t be able to create all the insights into the treatments and basic biology that we could create.”
Trim visited her at a Correctional Center in Louisiana. He recently sent her biology book on request, so she can study while in custody. He described her as a unique dedication to her work, just like everyone else.
Petrova doesn’t see himself like that. She is passionate about her work and her team, and told NBC News in an interview about video links that she thinks her work at Kirschnalab is a “miracle.”
In 2021, after completing his master’s degree, Petrova was recruited by Dr. Constantine Severinoff, a well-known Rutgers molecular biologist, for his genomic sequencing project in Moscow. “She is a very talented scientist and has great potential… her ability to be the best and best,” he said.
When asked about her political activities, Petrova said he believes that “science should have democracy” and that America believes that it is a “beautiful place” where people can freely express themselves.
“I don’t want to hide my political opinions,” she said. “If you want to say something to Putin, there’s no way you’re not in prison. There’s no way you won’t be arrested.”
Trim and more and more international scientists are increasingly concerned by how immigration policies are being implemented in the United States. Meanwhile, he and his colleagues await Petrova’s fate in worry.
“I really don’t know if we’ll see her again,” he said.
This story first appeared on nbcnews.com. More from NBC News:
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