A University of Pittsburgh professor who had been charged with illegally supplying microbes to an art professor for an exhibit pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge that he did not follow proper procedures in mailing the materials, according to a report in The New York Times.

The professor, Robert E. Ferrell, is chairman of the human-genetics department at Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health.

The mailing of the bacteria came to the attention of authorities because the professor who received the bacteria — Steven J. Kurtz, a professor of art at the State University of New York at Buffalo — called 911 after his wife collapsed. The paramedics who arrived at Mr. Kurtz’s home to care for his wife found petri dishes that were later determined to contain three kinds of bacteria (The Chronicle, July 9, 2004). The FBI began investigating, apparently concerned that Mr. Kurtz might be operating a bioterrorism lab out of his home. His wife was subsequently found to have suffered a fatal heart attack unrelated to the bacteria. —Jeffrey R. Young