Indiana University is restoring access to several biology labs that were locked down due to a USDA inspection into the lab of professor Roger Innes. But offices, equipment and freezers used by other researchers are still off limits.

Innes’s case drew attention after the professor’s public defense of Chinese scientists who were prosecuted by the federal government. The USDA investigated his lab earlier this year after one of his post-doctoral researchers was charged with concealing a shipment of DNA plasmids. At the time, it told Innes his lab was compliant with federal regulations.

IU Vice President for Research Russell Mumper emailed several administrators and biology professors Thursday morning, saying the USDA approved the university’s request to erect temporary barriers around the Innes lab so researchers can access adjacent lab space.

“Please be assured we are working as quickly as is feasible to ensure critical research tasks may continue or resume,” Mumper wrote.

But biology department chair Armin Moczek said it doesn’t solve his colleagues’ problem.

“It's nice to have lab space back,” he said. “Lab space by itself is useless if you can get to the reagents and ingredients you need to make use of that lab, and right now a lot of those are still inaccessible to the non-Innes lab faculty and students and postdocs that were affected by this in the first place.”

Moczek said earlier this week that the weeklong closure has long term implications for  researchers, including the unexpected termination of grant-funded projects. He suggested the barrier solution to IU but wishes officials had consulted him on where to put it.

“If they would have just moved it 10 feet further down, they would have given those two (principal investigators) access to their offices and their fridges and freezers,” Moczek said. “If the goal was to restore functionality to these two labs, that goal has yet to be accomplished.”

The USDA told Innes it will return next week to inspect his lab and instructed him to identify and categorize all biological materials in his lab based on whether they require a permit.

The agency’s written orders say not to move items from rooms on lockdown. IU told Innes the USDA said verbally not to move anything.

“That's absolutely not detailed in any way in what the USDA sent me, so this is just bizarre,” Innes said.

USDA spokesperson Tanya Espinosa told WFIU/WTIU News that although there is an active investigation, it did not order the closure of the lab. But the agency’s orders effectively did close the lab.

“The problem is the USDA tells them things on the phone that they don't put in writing to the university,” Innes said. “I feel like now this is more on the USDA about the weird way they're handling this.”