Andrea Gilbert, a 79-year-old retired attorney with Alzheimer’s disease, had planned to donate her brain for research in 2023 to help scientists find a cure for the disease. However, the Trump administration’s cuts to biomedical research funding have left the fate of the program uncertain, putting many research projects, including the University of Washington’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, at risk.
The National Institutes of Health has been a key funder of the UW’s ADRC since 1985, supporting important research into the basic biology of Alzheimer’s and identifying genes that cause the disease. Dr. Thomas Grabowski, the center’s director, is now scrambling to figure out what will happen to patient care and the brains banked for research if the funding is not renewed.
Dr. Dirk Keene, who leads the brain bank at UW Medicine, is determined to find alternative sources of funding to honor the gift of brain donations. However, the broader impact of the funding cuts on universities, researchers, and students has been significant, with some considering leaving the U.S. due to the uncertainty and lack of support.
The Trump administration’s cuts to research grants, particularly those related to topics like diversity, LGBTQ issues, and gender identity, have raised concerns about the future of scientific progress in the country. Researchers and institutions are now facing a legal battle to restore funding and support evidence-based science.
In response, the NIH has stated its commitment to restoring gold-standard science but the impact of the cuts on research and innovation remains a pressing concern for the scientific community.
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