Freed from US jail, top immunologist picked up where he left off – in China

Song Guo Zheng was jailed for failing to disclose his China ties under a controversial initiative to counter alleged Chinese espionage

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Immunologist Song Guo Zheng is now a chair professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and also heads a new institute. Photo: Handout

Published: 6:00am, 13 Mar 2025

Prominent immunologist Song Guo Zheng has rebuilt his career in Shanghai following his release from a US jail after he was targeted by the now-defunct China Initiative.

Zheng was one of the highest profile and most severely penalised researchers under the controversial programme launched during US President Donald Trump’s first term to counter alleged Chinese espionage.

Now 62, Zheng was imprisoned in the US from 2020 to 2023 and ordered to repay millions of dollars in research funds for failing to disclose his China ties.

He was never found guilty of intellectual property theft or unauthorised transfers of research or technology – the stated goals of the China Initiative. The programme was officially terminated in 2022 amid concerns over racial profiling, but investigations into Chinese scientists in the US have continued.

After his release from jail in 2023, Zheng quietly joined Shanghai Jiao Tong University as a chair professor, where he leads a team of more than 30 young scientists studying autoimmune diseases and cancer through the use of regulatory T cells, or Tregs.

He also heads a newly established institute backed by the university and the Songjiang district government in Shanghai.