Coronavirus researcher close to making ‘very’ significant findings murdered

Adebayo Obajemu

A 37- year-old medical researcher reportedly close to a breakthrough, said to be on the “verge of making very significant” coronavirus findings had been murdered in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, local media NBC News quoted officials saying. He was allegedly shot to death

Bing Liu, a post doctoral researcher at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, was discovered dead inside a home in Ross Township, Pittsburgh, U.S.A., with gunshots in his head and neck, according to NBC News report.

A clue to the crime was the discovery less than a mile away, and an hour after Mr Liu’s body was discovered, of a second person, the body of Hao Gu, 46, inside a car, Allegheny County authorities said.

According to findings b local police detective, Brian Kohlhepp, both men knew each other, and there are suspicions that Mr Gu killed Mr Liu before returning to his car where he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Although Mr Kohlhepp said authorities are still investigating this.

Mr Liu earned a Ph.D. in computational science from the National University of Singapore and worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Carnegie Mellon University before becoming a research associate at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

In a statement, the University of Pittsburgh described him as an excellent mentor and prolific researcher, who had co-authored more than 30 papers. His work focused on systems biology.

“Bing was on the verge of making very significant findings toward understanding the cellular mechanisms that underlie SARS-CoV-2 infection and the cellular basis of the following complications,” the university said