Harvard academics have warned they will be forced to euthanize animals used for medical research because of Donald Trump’s $2.2 billion funding freeze.
They will also be forced to fire workers, and withdraw critical funding for cancer and ALS patients, CNN reported.
Professor Sarah Fortune, who has been researching tuberculosis for over a decade, received a stop-work order this week on a $60 million contract that involved more than a dozen labs and research animals in Pittsburgh. They include a group of monkeys—most likely rhesus macaques—who might now be euthanized.
“The question is, could we find resources to support them, such that we don’t have to euthanize them?” Fortune told CNN.
There might still be a chance to save them if external support steps in, but Fortune said there isn’t an alternative funding source that can support the whole research program.
Professor Donald E. Ingber also said he had received stop-orders for his work, which mitigates the side effects of radiation treatments for cancer. More than 70% of cancer patients need radiation therapy and Ingber’s work helps develop radiation countermeasures and reduce animal testing. The federal agency responsible for biomedical research had told Ingber to expand his research only days before he was ordered to do the opposite.
He was also ordered to stop working with NASA on a project that help astronauts study the effects of radiation exposure and microgravity.
The space agency, was “coming to us to develop, literally, avatars for astronauts—human organ chips—in this case bone marrow chips made with cells from our astronauts who are going to go up on future missions,” he said.
Ingber said “we’re never going to get to Mars” if research projects like his are wiped out.
A third academic, Professor David Walt, said he had stopped researching ALS after the Trump administration ended his funding grant.
“This cancellation will cost lives,” he said.
Walt said his research can’t be easily restarted, and he’s been working hard for the last eight months in pursuit of a breakthrough.
“If we don’t use [the materials] over the next week or so, we are basically going to have to go back to square one,” he said.
Walt’s lab also works on early detection of, and potential cures for, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and infectious illnesses.
“If we can even solve any one of these problems, it will benefit many, many patients,” he said. “To take that opportunity away from me and other dedicated researchers, in my opinion, is a travesty.”
The possible euthanasia of animals is a reflection of how important federal funding is to the institution. About 75% of Harvard Medical School’s research is federally funded.
Harvard is facing the financial crisis after refusing to bend the knee to the Trump’s far-reaching demands, which included an order requiring the school to implement largely undefined “viewpoint diversity.” The Trump administration ruled that several universities, including Harvard, allowed antisemitism to grow on campus, and the president said his executive orders will put a stop to the discrimination. He’s moved to axe diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and punish students who participated in pro-Palestine protests.
He’s largely succeeded: both Columbia and University of Pennsylvania have waved the white flag and complied with Trump’s demands.
But not Harvard. Trump’s attempt to micromanage the university started when he tried to strip $9 billion from their funds, prompting campus-wide outrage. The Ivy League rebuffed his advances, and Harvard President Alan Garber said “No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
Trump then retaliated by slashing $2.2 billion in multi-year grants to the school and threatening to take away its tax-exempt status. And while people from both parties have commended the university’s firm stance, professors are now facing the concerning reality of future semesters without lifesaving funds.
The post Harvard Will Euthanize Lab Animals after Trump Funding Cuts appeared first on The Daily Beast.
