The estate of a Northwestern University professor, who died by suicide last year after being investigated in a controversial federal probe, is suing the school for allegedly discriminating against her and evicting her from her lab — blaming the university, in part, for her death.

Jane Wu was a tenured faculty member in neurology, molecular biology and genetics at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine for nearly two decades. She was among hundreds of Chinese American scientists targeted by the Justice Department’s China Initiative, a Trump-era program seeking to counter theft of American intellectual property and research.

Though Wu was never charged, Northwestern reassigned her grant funding, closed her lab and forcibly admitted her to the university’s psychiatric hospital, according to a civil complaint filed June 23 in Cook County Circuit Court. The executor of Wu’s estate is her daughter.

The university’s actions were a “substantial and decisive factor in her decision to end her life,” the complaint stated.

“Anyone who reads the facts of this complaint will recognize that a great injustice was done to Jane Wu,” attorney Thomas Geoghegan said.

A spokesperson for Northwestern said the university does not comment on pending litigation.

The China Initiative was scrapped in 2022 under the Biden administration. Though more than 200 Chinese American researchers were investigated, researchers say only a few dozen were charged and subsequently convicted. Critics said the program fueled a narrative of bias and created a chilling effect among the academic community.

After Wu was identified in the probe, she was placed under an administrative investigation by the National Institutes of Health. Though she was a longtime professor, her grants were reassigned to her white male colleagues and her research team was dissolved, according to the filing.

“NU did nothing to support her nor help lift the racial stigma placed over Dr. Wu despite her obvious innocence and the enormous funding her work had brought to NU,” the complaint said.

Even when the NIH’s investigation concluded in December 2023, Wu’s grants were not returned to her, according to the lawsuit. Her lab was completely shut down by May 2024, preventing her from applying for new NIH funding. Because Wu’s research was listed as inactive, Northwestern reduced her salary.

Feeling increasingly isolated, Wu began to spiral into a deep depression and show signs of obsessive behavior, the filing said.

“NU destroyed not only Dr. Wu’s chances at NIH funding but also her research career,” the complaint said.

That same month, university and Chicago police removed Wu from her office in handcuffs. She was then admitted against her will to the psychiatric unit of Northwestern Memorial Hospital “as a means to end her active research and employment,” according to the lawsuit.

Wu died by suicide weeks later, on July 10, 2024, “with her career, her professional reputation, and her sense of personal safety shattered.” She was 60 years old.

The complaint did not specify what damages the estate seeks.

The filing said Wu became a naturalized citizen in 2000, and had spent nearly 40 years in the United States. She had won continuous NIH funding since 1996. Her work investigated the molecular biology of mRNA and neurodegeneration, seeking to fight diseases such as Alzheimer’s and ALS.

Margaret Flanagan, now an associate professor at University of Texas Health San Antonio, worked beside Wu for more than three years at the Feinberg School of Medicine. But she was more than a colleague, Flanagan said — she was a mentor and friend, with a deep passion for science and unwavering generosity.

“Her legacy is one of strength, compassion, and a relentless commitment to advancing science,” Flanagan wrote in a statement to the Tribune.

Wu was intense and thoughtful, Flanagan said, and her astute advice has stuck with her colleague years later. She often reminded Flanagan to “focus on (her) science.” Wu always centered her work around a larger mission of advancing knowledge and helping patients, Flanagan said.

The pair largely fell out of touch when Flanagan left Northwestern in 2023.

“I assumed there would be time in the future to reconnect, not knowing how short that time would be,” Flanagan wrote.

Andrea Chu, the Midwest organizing director for Asian American Advancing Justice Chicago, said that Wu’s death shows the “devastating” impact of the China Initiative. She pointed to the lack of cases brought by the Justice Department as an indication that the program was racially biased.

A 2021 investigation from the MIT Technology Review found that 148 individuals were charged, but just 40 of them had pleaded or been found guilty. Only 19 cases included violations of the Economic Espionage Act, the intended focus of the initiative.

“The toll that it took on the scientists themselves, their colleagues and also their families is innumerable,” Chu said. “This was a great source of fear.” Originally Published: July 4, 2025 at 4:00 PM CDT

Quarterly profits.

EU citizens should keep signing. If you aren’t from the EU then do not sign, it causes more harm than good.

Thank you for the reply. I was really into D&D a few years ago but my interest decreased when life shifted. I missed those days.

Could you elaborate on the aspects of the RPG culture you have a problem with? I’m just curious.

4k Blu-ray rips? Naw, probably porn.

This game is in my backlog. I’ll play it as soon as I beat game A, B, C, and D. They’re mostly done…

Here we go boys! WW3! Lets watch the destruction of the world order AGAIN. I wonder which side Trump will take? The allies he hates or the autocrat he adores?

I hate what’s happening to the Palestinians but I’m not joining an echo chamber.

So Trump starts a trade war with the whole damn world, demands the resources of a country ravaged by war, threatens to annex the territory of our allies and an entire ally, but when he “accidentally” deports someone who’s supposed to be here to a foreign prison in fucking El Salvatore he’s suddenly powerless to bring this one guy back?

How do you know how much it costs Nintendo to make these games? Do you have financial reports or something?

It’s OK. Mostly solving puzzles and collecting echoes. I like the art style but it feels like the Link’s Awakening port so it feels like a port when it isn’t.

Yeah I put in some hours with Echos of Wisdom but I don’t play online much. Probably gonna change that by spectating Smash Bros when I’m supposed to be working.

Oh so the wording is different in the UK. I’ll have to edit my post.

This is not what Nintendo claims on their website

Sign in with your Nintendo Account and register your interest in purchasing a Nintendo Switch™ 2 system and select accessories from the official My Nintendo Store. We’ll be in touch with an invitation email once it’s your turn to shop.

Open to Nintendo Account holders in the U.S. and Canada, who are at least 18 years old. If you are eligible, an invitation email will be sent to the email address associated with your Nintendo Account when it is your time to purchase. The invitation will be valid for 72 hours. Invitation emails will be prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis to registrants who have purchased a Nintendo Switch Online membership with a minimum of 12 months of paid membership and a minimum of 50 total gameplay hours, as of April 2, 2025. Once invitation emails have been sent to all registrants meeting the priority criteria, invitations will be sent to remaining eligible registrants on a first-come, first-served basis.

Invitations are non-transferable and will be sent to the email address associated with the Nintendo Account that registered interest in purchasing Nintendo Switch 2. Optional accessories will be available to purchase alongside your system. For system and each accessory, limit one purchase per eligible Nintendo Account during the invitation period.

Link to Nintendo’s website.

So it looks like you need a Nintendo account (obviously), be at least 18yo, have purchased a Nintendo Switch Online membership (minimum 12 months), and have 50hrs total gameplay as of today. I don’t know if that gameplay is 50hrs total or online only. It’s first come first serve. The title is misleading. The requirements are different in the UK.

Let’s see who stops him from destroying the Constitution. This is some Hitler level shit.

Yes. I was worried at the time that we would get a worse product. Things have not changed for me at least.

How many bugs? How will they secretly siphon money to their accounts? How much access will the Russians have? Who’s gonna get discriminated against?

You mean Grok, right?

For the longest I’ve been critical of the democrats because I was pissed at how bad they lost. I complained that they don’t fight hard enough or understand the voters. I change my mind. Maybe they don’t need to do shit and just let the train wreak happen.