By Juliana Yao, Co-Opinion Editor
When scientist Osamu Shimomura first began studying a particular species of jellyfish in the 1960s, it was easy to trivialize his work. At the time, it was likely near-impossible to see the value of poking around with jellyfish that glowed in the dark, of all things. Thirty years later, Martin Chalfie’s NIH-funded research making tiny roundworms light up using Shimomura’s glowing discovery may have similarly raised eyebrows.
But, the results of their work allowed scientists to, for the first time, look at the previously invisible movement and position of proteins by making them glow. Their Nobel Prize-winning research now underlies one of the most foundational research tools in biology, contributing to countless innovations in cancer research, Alzheimer’s and medicine as a whole.
Along with this discovery, the NIH has been instrumental in innumerable medical and scientific developments. However, impending NIH funding caps on how much the agency can support institutional research could potentially threaten this role. According to respective university departments, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University may stand to lose over $400 million combined in NIH grants.
For scientists, this means losing funding for life-saving research and innovative technologies. For others, though, it seems unclear whether all this money actually goes toward grand ideals of research.
The sensationalism of scientific projects that seem to have no purpose, such as getting flies drunk or analyzing sea slugs, sparks doubt. Instead of spending taxpayer dollars on what they view as frivolous pursuits, some foresee institutions vetting their research projects because of funding cuts to only choose the ones that will truly bring scientific value.
Only one problem — scientific discovery doesn’t work like that. As exemplified by Shimomura and Chalfie, the kinds of topics that yield innovation can be unexpected and wild. Places we may expect to see consequential results may not yield them, while giving flies alcohol may reveal ways to combat alcoholism and addiction issues in humans.
Research is a mixed bag of projects that may contribute greatly to science or not, but they come together without labels. If it were possible to identify which labels will be which in advance, we wouldn’t need research at all. The best way to approach scientific progress is through casting a large net and granting freedom for exploration.
This wide net also must include all groups of people. Another directive of the current Trump administration is to restrict content that includes mentions of LGBTQ+ groups and other minorities, including within research that aims to study these very communities.
The research restrictions represent a serious backward step in progress, not only socially but also for the real health and well-being of marginalized people. As detailed in “Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men” by Caroline Perez, for example, research for development of products has historically and primarily used men, meaning products are more designed for male proportions. Women are more likely to die in car crashes as a result of this disparity. Similar issues can be seen in medical textbooks, which usually only use white skin to represent various skin conditions, causing these medical conditions on darker skin to go unnoticed.
Only in recent decades have we begun to include more minority groups and LGBTQ+ communities in research. Now, ensuring that these groups stay out of scientific research with these new policies undermines their right to know about their own selves and mitigates the ability of healthcare professionals to properly care for them.
Scientific research is complex but necessary in our society, and as such, we should feel justified in dedicating all the time, space and resources that it needs. Most importantly, we need to ensure that it is accessible to everyone and that science is a pillar that is free and just for all.
Juliana Yao can be reached at [email protected].
