A former Harvard University professor was sentenced on Wednesday to six months' house arrest for lying about his ties to a China-run recruitment program in one of the highest-profile cases to result from a crackdown on Chinese influence on US research.

Charles Lieber, the former chair of Harvard's chemistry department, was sentenced by a federal judge to one day in prison - time that Lieber had already served following his arrest - and half a year of house arrest with a fine of $50,000, the Harvard Crimson newspaper and news website Semafor reported.