Opinion: Science is Utah's quiet engine — don't stall it with cuts to important funding

Science quietly powers Utah's prosperity. From lifesaving diagnostics at ARUP Laboratories and cutting-edge biotech startups to clean energy research at Utah State and drought-resistant crops developed through university partnerships, science is behind much of what makes life in Utah better, longer and more secure.
In 2024, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded over $300 million to Utah institutions. That funding supported thousands of jobs, helped launch companies, and enabled groundbreaking research in everything from cancer treatments to Alzheimer's to rare disease therapies. Public health advances that benefit every Utahn — urban or rural — almost always begin through federally funded research.
But now, that progress is in jeopardy.
Proposed cuts and restrictions to NIH funding could have devastating effects on Utah's research institutions and economy. The plan to slash NIH's overall budget by nearly half, coupled with a proposal to reduce the indirect cost reimbursement to universities from around 50% to 15%, would mean far less money to cover the real costs of doing science. Basics like lab space, utilities, data storage and administrative support aren't luxuries — they're the infrastructure that makes research possible.
For public universities like the University of Utah and Utah State, this isn't just a budget concern. It's a structural threat. Without adequate indirect cost support, universities would either have to drastically scale back research activity or shift the financial burden to students and state taxpayers. Both options would weaken Utah's competitive edge in science and technology.
The consequences would ripple far beyond campus. Utah is known for its 'Industry' motto — a title that honors the resourcefulness and hard work that built our communities. Today, that industrious spirit thrives in our biotech labs, clean tech startups and health research centers. But industries can't thrive without innovation. Utah's life sciences sector depends on a steady pipeline of NIH-supported talent and discoveries emerging from research. Companies like Recursion, Myriad Genetics and BioFire Diagnostics thrive because of academic partnerships and access to skilled graduates. Pulling funding would slow innovation and shrink the talent pool.
But it's not just about economics. It's about people.
NIH funding supports clinical trials that help Utah families battling cancer. It funds suicide prevention programs in our schools, mental health outreach in rural counties, and pediatric care innovations at Primary Children's Hospital (PCH). It supports research for Native American communities and families dealing with chronic conditions like diabetes and asthma. Without that funding, many of these programs would disappear.
I've seen the impact of public health investment firsthand. After I tested positive for latent tuberculosis as a student, I received free weekly treatment and health monitoring through the Utah County Health Department. It was science-backed care, delivered through a local system supported by federal resources. Without that treatment, I could have developed active tuberculosis — a threat not just to me but also to others. The system worked because it was built on scientific research and proactive policy. That kind of safety net doesn't happen without sustained funding.
Furthermore, my nephew, Wesley, was cared for at PCH when he was just four months old. He was diagnosed with polyarteritis nodosa, a rare autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and damage to the heart. The NIH not only funds various programs at PCH but also was crucial to backing the science that led to properly diagnosing and saving Wesley.
These cuts hurt the next generation. Graduate students and early career scientists — many of whom come from Utah — rely on federal research grants to get their start. If funding dries up, so do those opportunities. We risk losing promising young minds to other careers or other countries.
This is not a partisan issue. Scientific progress should never be about politics. Every Utahn benefits from the medications they take, the clean water they drink, the safe food they eat and the medical care they receive. All of these are underpinned by science. Restricting it weakens our shared safety net and quality of life.
Utah is built on hard work, innovation and foresight. Cutting science funding now would undermine the very foundation that allows us to adapt, compete and care for our communities. Science works for Utah — let's keep it that way.

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‘Devastating': 10 Harvard researchers detail ‘essential' work set to be cut by Trump

From a fruit fly database, to developing 'organ chip' technology, to the study of deer mice — all of it could have serious implications for understanding, finding cures for or helping alleviate human diseases, Harvard University researchers say. And yet, those explorations are among thousands of federal research grants and billions of dollars the Trump administration has cut in recent months. In court filings, Harvard — global research mecca — claims it is being targeted by a 'government vendetta,' as President Donald Trump strips much of its federal money and contracts in the name of addressing antisemitism. But what research is actually being done at Harvard? And does it matter if it gets cut? MassLive is profiling 10 researchers, using interviews and court affidavits, whose work will be entirely stopped or severely affected by federal government cuts. A federal judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to restore 367 National Institutes of Health grants as part of two lawsuits, but the order doesn't apply to a broad swath of grants, including the huge numbers at Harvard. There have been 2,282 NIH grants terminated nationally, amounting to nearly $3.8 billion of lost funding as of June 4, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. The funding cuts at Harvard have led to layoffs at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, as every one of its direct federal grants has been terminated. The school has even taken to social media to ask for donations. Read more: As federal funding cuts hit Harvard, a private investment firm and other donors step up Harvard announced it has committed $250 million of 'central funding' to support research affected by suspended and canceled federal grants. However, even with the boost of funding from the university, research is threatened and could be significantly affected without federal money, according to Harvard researchers. Overwhelmingly, researchers told MassLive that while Harvard may be the facilitator for the work they're doing, it's not 'Harvard research' — rather, it's research for the world. They also argued that the cuts are wasteful and costly because they stop research prematurely, making all funding that came before it nearly useless. Position: Genome database coordinator, a staff scientist position in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Harvard University Victoria Jenkins extracts, interprets and archives data to keep FlyBase, the world's central repository for fruit fly research, running. The website is a free treasure trove of 32 years' worth of data for scientists across the world to access. Fruit flies are genetically similar to humans — nearly 70% — making them cheap and accessible test subjects to work with. The site contains information about every fruit fly gene and genome. 'We're the Wikipedia of fruit fly research,' Jenkins said in an interview. 'There really isn't a second version of what we do. We are the one resource for this information.' In May, FlyBase's grant funding from the National Institutes of Health was terminated. Now, researchers are searching for other forms of funding to, at the very least, preserve the website as is. Jenkins said Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, addiction, traumatic brain injuries and birth defects have all been modeled in flies as researchers work to make scientific breakthroughs. Six Nobel Prize projects have been awarded to fruit fly-related research. And the results are all found on FlyBase, which is a multi-university partnership between Harvard, Indiana University, University of New Mexico and the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom. 'Every fly researcher around the world relies on us for historical data and everything new that gets produced,' Jenkins said. Position: Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University When Bence Ölveczky came to the U.S. at the age of 28 from Hungary, it was the first place where he didn't feel like a foreigner. 'This is a unique country because it's a country of immigrants. And that's why I felt at home because nobody cared,' he told MassLive. Now it feels like the climate is changing. He isn't able to encourage students to come to the university. At the same time, he is piecing together funding for his research after the funding terminations. He is working to understand how rats learn, which will inform rehabilitation, helping people who have had strokes or have Parkinson's. 'It's an inspiration to me that we could help in the treatment of these,' he said. Using 'rainy day' funds he received a decade ago from when he was promoted, he hasn't had to lay off staff yet — but these funds will dry up within the year, he said. In addition to potential layoffs, around 100 rats would also have to be euthanized because the lab won't have the funding to keep going. Position: Professor of computational biology and bioinformatics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He is also the chair of the Department of Biostatistics. For over three decades, John Quakenbush has been working in biomedical research, investigating the mechanisms that cause healthy people — and ultimately their cells — to become diseased. Despite his decades of experience, he said he is looking at leaving the United States. 'I stand behind Harvard in its decision to fight for its First Amendment rights,' Quakenbush said in an interview. 'But I'm looking, at this point in my career, at potentially two years with almost no external research funding — maybe longer. And, as you get to that point, and you're not doing research anymore, picking back up and starting up again becomes more difficult. Even securing federal research grants becomes difficult.' Part of Quakenbush's research is attempting to uncover a 'fundamentally important but understudied problem in health.' He is both unpacking how sex and age interact to influence disease risk and how diseases differ between biological males and females. Without the funding, he doesn't know what'll happen next, but said sex is important to understand how nearly every disease has different ways it manifests or responds to therapy. " The political agenda that we don't want to acknowledge different genders or we don't even want to go beyond individual sexes is sort of ridiculous because disease strikes us all right? Independent of who we voted for, who we love, what church we go to or don't go to," Quakenbush said. Position: Associate professor of social and behavioral sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health When describing the affects of federal research cuts in a recent court filing, Shoba Ramanadhan used the word 'devastating' multiple times. Four of her federal grants have been terminated or ended early. They included research related to the impact of climate change-caused heat stress and cancer-focused outreach to immigrants, refugees and minority communities. 'I work closely with communities that have been subject to discrimination in the United States, such as racial and ethnic minorities and LGBTQ+ groups,' Ramanadhan wrote in her court affidavit. 'Given historical and current abuses of power, these communities are understandably skeptical of scientists and academic researchers. It can take us anywhere from 5 to 15 years to build the requisite trust and relationships with a community and partner on research.' Ramanadhan warned that if her projects can't be completed, 'people in the communities we serve will not be supported to engage in cancer prevention activities, such as breast cancer screening or vaccination against HPV.' She also expressed concerns that an entire cohort of faculty working toward tenure, herself included, could lose the opportunity to achieve it because of federal research cuts. Kelsey Tyssowski Position: Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Departments of Organismic & Evolutionary Biology and Molecular & Cellular Biology at Harvard University. Without funding for Kelsey Tyssowski's work, she may have to leave academic science entirely. Her pathway to getting a tenure-track job has been halted by federal funding cuts. Her research only has funding until the end of the month — then it is up to tenure faculty to determine if she will have any left. A canceled grant from the National Institutes of Health was supposed to cover her salary through March 2026 and the first three years of research in her own lab. 'I have to get a job this year. And this year it's going to be very hard to get a tenure track faculty job because there's hiring freezes everywhere,' Tyssowski said. 'If I can't stay in this job here, I almost certainly have to leave academia.' Tyssowski's research involves skilled movement, complex learned movements that can be reproduced accurately and efficiently and take entire body coordination to do, like climbing. She is pioneering a new way to study skilled movement through deer mice — whose skilled movement might have evolved in a way that humans and primates have. This could provide significant understanding on how human brains engage in skilled movement, and ultimately, in treating diseases such as ALS, where skilled movement is the first thing to go. If she leaves academia, the work that she has been doing is at risk of completely vanishing. 'No one will do this research. I won't do this research. It will just go away,' she said. Position: Social epidemiologist and director of the Social Policies for Health Equity Research Center at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Rita Hamad has spent nearly 20 years studying the effects of social policies on health, poverty and education. Specifically, how policies can have the power to lift up marginalized communities and improve their health, or make it worse. It is an 'unbelievably devastating time for science in general, but particularly for us that study health equity,' she said in an interview. Hamad has seen three of her NIH grants canceled. One was used to study how neighborhood socioeconomic factors affect risk for Alzheimer's and dementia. 'We need to know what about communities we can intervene in to improve these risk factors,' she said. 'If you don't have that information, you're not preventing any cases of dementia.' A second grant was used to examine the effects of school segregation on the cardiovascular health of youth and young adults. Research so far has shown that children who experience school segregation have a higher risk of worse health in childhood and years later, she said. 'All of that research is grinding to a halt, doing a disservice to people of all backgrounds,' Hamad said. 'Clinging to whatever I can,' Hamad said she's trying to remain hopeful that her grant funding will be restored and the damage 'reversible.' 'We're not just here to get a paycheck,' she said. 'We're here to make the world a better and healthier place.' Position: Founding director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University With Donald Ingber's ongoing work, the U.S. had a better chance at exploring Mars. But the federal government has instructed him to cease his projects. Ingber and his team have been working to develop human 'organ chip' technology — 'tiny, complex, three-dimensional models with hollow channels lined by different types of cells and tissues that recapitulate the structure and function of human organs,' he wrote in a court affidavit. One of Ingber's projects was using the organ chip to study the effects of microgravity and radiation on astronauts during spaceflight. Ingber was developing specialized bone marrow chips incorporating cells from individual astronauts. The specialized chips were scheduled to fly aboard the Artemis II mission to the moon, scheduled for early 2026, alongside the astronauts who donated the cells, Ignber said. 'This work is critical to our ultimate ability to explore Mars, because protecting astronauts from radiation toxicity remains a major barrier to the long-distance space travel necessary to explore the solar system,' he continued. The second project using the organ chip technology was studying how the human lung, intestine, bone marrow and lymph node respond to radiation, with the goal of identifying drugs 'that can mitigate the effects of that radiation.' Ingber said the work was important to improve public safety, 'as the country ramps up nuclear power production to support the energy-intensive artificial intelligence industry.' 'These countermeasures also would be available in the case of a nuclear attack and to alleviate toxic side effects in cancer patients who receive radiation therapy,' he said. Position: Professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Kept frozen by liquid nitrogen inside laboratories at Harvard University are more than 1.5 million biospecimens that have mere 'weeks' left until they spoil. Soon, there won't be enough money left to keep the freezers running. The nearly 50 years of collected human feces, urine, blood, tumors and even toenail clippings could have consequential implications for the future health of Americans, and yet, they're at risk of being lost if funding slashed by the Trump administration isn't restored. Read more: Trump cuts threaten 'irreplaceable' Harvard stockpile of human feces, urine The mother lode collection housed at Harvard has supported generations-long chronic disease risk studies that have fundamentally shaped significant scientific and medical advancements. The studies have led to major breakthroughs, including links between cigarettes and cardiovascular disease and alcohol consumption and breast cancer. The research also uncovered the dangers of trans fats, which the U.S. has now largely restricted. The biological samples collected during the studies are 'irreplaceable,' according to Walter Willett, one of the most sought-after nutritionists internationally. And some of the study participants could even die before the next check-in period, he said. 'No other institution in the world has this data,' Willett wrote in a May 30 court affidavit detailing the effects of federal funding cuts on his research. Position: Senior lecturer in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Personally, Paige Williams, a Harvard faculty member of 34 years, stands to lose 90% of her salary due to revocations of NIH grants. Professionally, she fears the downstream effects on clinical research in the future, particularly when it comes to community trust. She cited some of her study participants — women living with HIV — who have already expressed feeling 'betrayed' when study activities abruptly stopped in May. 'As HIV researchers, we rely on the willingness of our study participants to share openly some of the most vulnerable and challenging aspects of their lives,' Williams wrote in a court filing. 'Our work thus depends on a foundation of trust between us and the participants we work with…' Williams primarily studies health outcomes in pregnant women and their children, and much of her work is HIV-centered. One of her terminated grants was a 20-year study evaluating the effects of anti-retroviral treatment for mothers with HIV and their children — currently in its final year. Because of the grant stoppage, her research team was essentially unable to procedurally finish two decades of work. In addition, they're slated to lose data they've collected, Williams wrote. 'Losing the data arising from such studies would be devastating for the entire scientific community and for the many Americans whose lives would be forever improved by scientific breakthroughs,' she said. Position: Professor of Health Economics and Policy in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health & interim department chair. Meredith Rosenthal's research focuses on a tool to lower medication alternatives to help reduce out-of-pocket costs for patients and increase medication adherence. She is aiming to understand how things may change based on people's socioeconomic statuses and geographic locations. Around 60% of Rosenthal's salary comes from research grants. One of her grants provides almost $2.5 million over three and a half years, and she has one year left. Her grant was canceled on May 15, according to court documents. 'I firmly believe that equity is an essential value in health policy. I have dedicated my career to improving health and affordability for everyone, both through my research and by overseeing the school's Office of Diversity and Inclusion (from 2013-2018) to improve diversity, equity and inclusion of those who work in the industry and on our campus,' she said. 'I worry that the Trump administration will label my focus on equitable access to healthcare as an 'ideologically capture' DEI program and demand that the school 'shutter' the program, particularly because of my former diversity-related administrative role, but because of the vagueness of the Demand Letters, I cannot be sure,' she said. Federal judge halts Trump's plans to keep Harvard from enrolling foreign students Harvard researcher's work gives 'hope' for Parkinson's. But the feds cut his funding These US colleges are among the top 100 best global universities, US News says 'Far reaching consequences' — UMass Amherst sounds the alarm amid federal uncertainty MIT joins group of universities suing the DOD over funding cuts Read the original article on MassLive.

Business Insider

21 hours ago

• Business Insider

It's not just for gyms bros — scientists say a 50-cent muscle-building supplement slows aging and may counteract Alzheimer's

Creatine — long beloved by gym rats who mix it into protein shakes — is shaping up to be much more than a muscle building and fat loss supplement. Mounting research suggests it may also boost heart health, protect against Alzheimer's, improve mood, and strengthen your bones. While researchers typically have a healthy mistrust of supplements, creatine is the rare exception, recommended even among skeptical scientists and doctors: it's reliably safe, relatively inexpensive, and backed by extensive, high-quality studies. And it costs, on average, less than 50 cents per serving. "I don't know if there's anything on the planet that comes close to creatine from a multifactorial approach," Darren Candow, a top creatine researcher and professor of exercise physiology, nutrition and aging at Regina University in Canada, told Business Insider. Over the past decade, interest in creatine has skyrocketed, in tandem with research showing it can double up as a longevity supplement. As of May, the US creatine market is worth $456.6 million, up 36% from the prior year, according to data and analytics company Spins. "As much as we can define a longevity supplement at this point, creatine is probably one of the best in that category," Jordan Glen, supplement researcher and chief science officer for health startup SuppCo., an app that helps users find the right supplements for their goals, told Business Insider. Creatine drives your muscles to push harder without getting tired Creatine was first discovered in muscle tissue in 1832. Nearly a century later, scientists started to figure out how it's stored and used for energy in the human body. They experimented with extracting creatine from meat and later synthesizing it in a lab. But it wasn't until the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 that creatine went mainstream. The British gold-medal sprinters, sharing how they got in shape, gushed about the powerful effects of a little-known supplement: creatine. In 1993, the first commercial creatine hit store shelves, and sales boomed. Creatine is a raw material for producing ATP, a molecule that gives our cells energy. The majority of creatine is stored in the muscles, where it offers a ready fuel source for high-intensity effort. More creatine can improve strength and muscle gains by providing a bit more energy, helping you push a little bit harder and work out for longer before getting tired. Our bodies naturally produce creatine through a combination of amino acids. That's only a small amount, though. We can get more of it from some foods like red meat and fish — or, through supplements. In the past five years, demand for creatine as a fitness aid has spiked, with retail prices up 150% and sales increased by 90% year over year, despite steadily rising costs. And it's not just for muscle-hungry gym bros. While men continue to make up the majority of creatine users, about 21% of the creatine buyers are women, according to data from nationwide supplement retailers The Vitamin Shoppe. At SuppCo, both Glen, the CSO, and Steve Martocci, the CEO, said their wives have recently started taking creatine — reflecting a broader trend of women as a growing consumer base. What changed? Martocci pointed to more evidence dispelling the myth that creatine is just for muscle men to bulk up. Plus, early research suggests creatine can support hormonal health for women, helping to counteract shifts that can occur during the menstrual cycle by helping to maintain levels of glycogen in the muscle for better energy and performance. Creatine slows aging and boosts brain health, per new research In June, a small study found that patients with Alzheimer's disease saw a boost to their cognitive function after supplementing creatine. "We think that just providing more energy to the brain could be useful," Scott Forbes, a sports science researcher and professor at Brandon University who was not involved in the study, told Business Insider. "The brain actually uses about 20% of your total energy expenditure, even though it only weighs about 2% of your body weight. So for a tissue, it's very energetically demanding," Forbes said. Creatine also seems to have an anti-inflammatory effect, making the brain more resilient against stresses that would wear down its ability to perform. "We know that too much inflammation or too much oxidative stress can also lead to poor cognition or poor brain functions," Forbes said. Other recent studies have found that supplementing creatine could also help to mitigate the effects of aging or a concussion. "The theory is that the brain can remodel itself or at least maintain its function during times of stress," Candow, the aging researcher at Regina University, told Business Insider. "I don't know anybody in the world that's not stressed." The new research is expanding creatine's reach to consumers beyond the gym, according to Muriel Gonzalez, president of nationwide supplement retailer The Vitamin Shoppe. "Creatine is undergoing a major transformation — from a niche sports nutrition supplement to a versatile tool for daily health and longevity," Gonzalez told Business Insider over email. Total creatine sales have spiked by 300% from 2019 to 2024 at The Vitamin Shoppe, and are continuing to grow at a double-digit pace, according to company data. Should you be taking creatine? You'll be disappointed if you expect to transform your life, and health, with a few doses of creatine. A supplement can provide a boost but ultimately makes a relatively small difference. Your overall diet, exercise, and lifestyle are far more important. Still, the bottom line is that more and more research supports taking creatine for a huge range of benefits, with very little downside. "I think almost everybody should consider taking creatine," Forbes, the science researcher at Brandon University, said. Even in high doses over a long time period, side effects are mild, such as gastrointestinal upset and a slight increase in water retention, since creatine pulls water into the muscles. "Overall it's one of the safest supplements out there," Eric Gonzalez, a neuroscience professor at Texas Christian University who has studied creatine, told Business Insider. "If anyone wants to go on a supplement, creatine won't hurt you, there's only going to be an upside." If you're losing weight — including those on a GLP-1 drug that triggers weight loss — creatine can help you retain muscle mass, promoting a higher ratio of muscle to body fat. For those looking to boost brain health or mood, early studies suggest that 10-30 grams a day may be beneficial. Glen previously conducted research on senior Olympians who took creatine and found it helped them get stronger and faster while avoiding age-related decline. "We're never too old to take creatine," he said.