Harvard will destroy 1.5million samples that could hold the key to stopping colon cancer epidemic
Fifty years of Harvard research is set to be flushed down the toilet.
Since 1976, the university has collected more than 1.5million samples of human feces, urine, toenails, saliva, hair and blood from people for scientific research, allowing them to track how bodies change over time.
Researchers behind the project say it could reveal key mutations that lead to cancer or habits that could help someone live longer.
Dr Walter Willet, a physician who has been with the project since 1977, said the collection could also be a treasure trove of information on the reasons for the colon cancer surge in young people.
But now, all of these possibilities are set to be lost after three grants to support the project — worth $5million per year — were cut by the Trump administration.
Dr Willet has managed to secure emergency funding from Harvard for the collection but says this could run out within weeks.
If more funds aren't raised, he said, then it's likely that the collection will be packed into plastic biohazard bags and shipped off to an incinerator — along with the valuable information it contains.
'We can't let that happen,' Dr Willit told DailyMail.com, 'we are working hard to make sure the resources are not lost'.
The database — called the Harvard biorepository — holds samples from more than 200,000 women and men who took part in Harvard-led studies.
This includes participants in the Nurses Health Study, 121,000 women tracked since 1976, and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, tracking 51,000 men since 1986.
For both studies, participants were asked to fill in bi-annual surveys on their diet, exercise and health — allowing researchers to detect factors that may raise someone's risk of suffering from a disease like cancer.
More than 10,000 participants have already died, but scientists are continuing to carry out the surveys on those who are alive — some over 95 years old — hoping to detect hidden clues to longevity.
Since 1982, the researchers have also been collecting biological samples from the participants to add further data to their project.
From the Nurses Health Study, the database currently holds 62,000 toenail clippings, 50,000 urine samples, 30,000 saliva samples, 20,000 hair samples and more than 16,000 samples of feces collected between 1982 and 2019.
It also holds an estimated 1.5million blood samples from more than 30,000 participants, and tissue samples from 16 cancers that emerged in participants during the study.
From the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, it includes blood samples from more than 18,000 participants and more than 1,700 samples of tissue from cancers including prostate cancer.
The Nurses Health Study has already resulted in the publication of more than 400 cancer-related studies, nearly 300 projects and participation in 33 cancer consortia.
Top studies include a 2007 paper that found higher levels of inflammation-linked proteins in the blood raised the risk of colon cancer, and a 2004 paper that found people with higher levels of vitamin D in their blood had a lower risk of colon cancer.
There are also early studies into the gut microbiomes of participants based on analysis of stool samples collected from 2019. While it is still too soon for these to reveal reasons for the surge in colon cancer cases, they hold promise
Other notable findings include a 2003 paper that found postmenopausal women with higher estrogen levels had a higher risk of breast cancer.
And a 1995 analysis of toenail clippings that suggested people with lower levels of selenium in their diets — a nutrient found in nuts — may have a higher risk of lung cancer, although this was later disputed by other research.
Data from the studies' questionnaires has also been used in recent years to suggest that suggests a diet high in red meat could raise the risk of type 2 diabetes.
And studies that linked a higher consumption of trans fats — a type of fat that influences cholesterol and that is used in cookies, pies and other bakery products — to a higher risk of coronary heart disease. The work was instrumental in the 2018 FDA ban on hydrogenated oils — which are used to make trans fats — in the US.
The samples are stored in up to 60 large cylindrical freezers that are five-foot tall by five-foot wide housed in two locations at Harvard. It is split across two locations to protect the collection in case of an incident like a fire.
The toenails and hair are not frozen because they do not degrade easily, Dr Willit said, meaning they are comparatively easy to store.
But the rest of the collection is kept in the freezers that constantly have liquid nitrogen pumped through them — which has a temperature of -320F (-196C) — to preserve the samples.
Running the freezers alone costs about $300,000 a year, Dr Willit said.
The team receives several dozen requests a year for access to the collection from scientists, he added.
In response, samples are either shipped to the scientists or the team undertakes the research in their lab and sends the scientists the results.
Researchers are also constantly adding to the collection, collecting cancer samples from patients when the disease emerges and new data via surveys.
So far, the Breast Cancer Research Foundation in New York has agreed to offer funding to preserve the cancer samples from the Nurses Health Study. It is not clear how long this funding will last.
But Dr Willit says they are continuing to avidly seek backers for the samples in the rest of the collection.
The database was supported by three federal grants from the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health.
It comes amid a mammoth battle between the Trump administration and Harvard University, that has seen more than $3billion in grants cut from America's wealthiest institution.
In the latest salvo, a federal judge has blocked the Trump administration's effort to keep Harvard from hosting foreign students — who make up approximately 27 percent of its student body.
The administration has repeatedly accused the university of doing too little to fight anti-semitism on its campuses and to stem pro-Palestine protests that disrupted some classes in 2024 and 2025.
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