Police Probe Unicamp Virus Theft After Samples Recovered and Professor Freed Under Conditions

Overview

• Federal Police recovered all missing viral samples on March 23 and 24 and said the material never left the university or caused external contamination.
• Soledad Palameta Miller was arrested in flagrante on March 23 and received provisional release on March 24 with monthly court check-ins, bail, travel limits, and a ban from the labs under investigation.
• Investigators are examining the roles of her husband, Michael Edward Miller, and a student who helped her enter restricted areas, with possible charges that include qualified theft, procedural fraud, and irregular handling of genetically modified organisms.
• Searches found boxes in a sealed freezer at the Food Engineering faculty, manipulated tubes in the Tropical Diseases lab, and discarded vials in a cell culture lab, revealing lapses in access control and chain of custody.
• The recovered material, which included influenza strains such as H1N1 and H3N2, was sent to the Ministry of Agriculture for forensic review with Anvisa, as Unicamp and the virology society say biosafety systems detected and contained the incident.