Science under siege Science under siege Science under siege

Nearly every modern medical treatment—from pain relievers and cholesterol drugs to vaccines against polio and smallpox—can be traced to research funded by the National Institutes of Health. The long-standing partnership between research institutions like the University of Washington and the federal government has become so intertwined with daily life that it’s easy to take for granted.

But the scientific work driving these medical advances is in jeopardy. Under the current administration, agencies like the NIH and the National Science Foundation have frozen or terminated hundreds of active research grants. And proposed cuts in funding for critical infrastructure—known as indirect costs—threaten to stall progress and harm the health of all Americans. Thousands of ongoing projects aimed at understanding life-threatening illnesses and finding new therapies rely on funding from the NIH and NSF.

Federal support has fueled breakthroughs in cancer treatment and prevention. The National Cancer Institute of the NIH, the world’s largest funder of cancer research, has helped drive a 33% drop in U.S. cancer death rates between 1991 and 2021. Basic cancer research has led to new ways to harness the immune system to fight tumors. In a 2022 clinical trial, all 12 patients treated with one form of immunotherapy saw their rectal cancer completely disappear. Likewise, none of the women vaccinated against HPV at age 12 or 13 developed the disease later. Since the vaccines’ widespread use, cervical cancer deaths have dropped 62%.

Despite these successes, cancer remains a major challenge: In 2024, over 2 million people in the U.S. were estimated to be diagnosed, and 611,720 were expected to die from the disease.

Autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s affect nearly every family. While no cures exist, new treatments are improving symptoms and slowing progression. Since 2013, the NIH’s BRAIN Initiative has invested over $3 billion in neuroscience research. Most treatments address cognitive and behavioral symptoms, but two new drugs to treat early-stage Alzheimer’s are in clinical trials at UW Medicine. Federal funding is also advancing early-detection blood tests—another innovation underway at the UW.

Infectious diseases remain a major threat—and cuts to federal support weaken our defenses. Advances in medicine and public health have eradicated smallpox, eliminated polio in the U.S. and turned HIV/AIDS into a manageable condition.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the value of biomedical research as U.S. labs—including the UW’s—developed new drugs and vaccine platforms. Federal funding led to the new field of AI-designed medicines for which the UW’s David Baker was recently awarded the Nobel Prize.

Cuts to biomedical research will have a cascade of effects: fewer clinical trials, fewer new treatments and fewer lifesaving drugs. Labs will close, jobs will be lost and the process of discovery will stall.

Our country is poised to lose its standing as the world’s leader in scientific innovation. It will affect our health-care system and our economy. And just as importantly, cuts threaten our ability to train new scientists. Americans and the rest of the world stand to lose new cures, new treatments and an entire generation of researchers.

Help us raise awareness. When the pipelines of scientific progress are turned off, they won’t be easy to turn back on.

Professor Deborah Fuller and Assistant Professor Patrick Mitchell are UW microbiologists leading research to improve human health.