The National Institutes of Health (NIH), overseen by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., granted $800,000 in taxpayer money to a research project linked to the Siberian Plague Lab, according to White Coat Waste.
The funding was awarded to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2025 and 2026. The university was conducting a partnership with Russia's Institute of Cytology and Genetics, which has also worked with the Siberian facility where a lab worker died of the plague.
Project Details
The project itself was not linked to the plague; rather, it focused on the social behaviour of foxes raised in a Siberian facility.
On October 2, lab worker Darya Shipilova died after becoming ill with suspected pneumonic plague. She had been employed at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia, which has since come under fire for the alleged leak of the disease.
Investigation and Reactions
The 28-year-old scientist was taken to the hospital in Shelekhov, where she passed away. Russia's health watchdog has insisted that testing of her body discovered no 'micro-organisms' in her that were linked to her work, while the Kremlin dismissed allegations about the disease or anti-plague measures.
In since deleted posts, local officials claimed the scientist died of a plague infection. But Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov labelled the reports as 'false information.'
Quarantine and Monitoring
Independent news outlet People of Baikal reported that Shipilova broke a test tube, though inspections found none of the pathogens clinicians are working with in her body. Telegram outlet Baza said Shipilova fell ill returning from Buryatia, where an outbreak erupted among squirrels, but local officials deny this.
Parts of Shelekhov Hospital, where Shipilova was treated for two days, were quarantined. Nearly 200 people who came into contact with Shipilova have been placed under medical observation, according to Russia's REN TV. None have shown signs of illness.
