Trump cuts threaten ‘irreplaceable' Harvard stockpile of human feces, urine
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.
As Harvard fights the Trump administration in court over the suspension of nearly $3 billion in federal funding, 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.
The mother lode collection housed at Harvard has supported generations-long chronic disease risk studies that have fundamentally shaped major scientific and medical advancements.
Read more: Funding cuts, lawsuits, foreign students: The latest on Trump's war with Harvard University
The studies have lead 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, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and 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 impacts of federal funding cuts on his research.
Read more: Over 12,000 Harvard alums lend weight to court battle with Trump in new filing
The money can't be replaced with private funding, Willett said, and Harvard has told him it won't be able to supplement lost dollars.
Willett filed his affidavit last month as part of a lawsuit in which Harvard faculty members are suing the Trump administration. President Donald Trump has gone after the world's wealthiest higher education institution and its funding in the name of antisemitism, claiming Harvard has failed to protect Jewish students, particularly in the wake of the war in Gaza.
Willett's research is funded by two federal grants from the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. On May 6, he was informed the funding had been terminated for both the Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study.
The Nurses' Health Study, which began with its first installment in 1976, followed by Willett's involvement in 1989, started tracking a cohort of 116,000 women in order to understand how 'diets and lifestyle relate to the risk of developing cancer,' Willett's affidavit said.
In addition to collected biological samples, much of the data comes from questionnaires filled out by study participants every two years.
The Nurses' Health Study has associated circulating sex hormones and postmenopausal breast cancer risk; connected higher vitamin D levels linked with lower risks of both colon polyps and colon cancer; and played a role in discovering genetic variations involved in cancers and cancer-related factors.
The Health Professionals Follow-up Study is parallel research that has been tracking the diets of 52,000 adult men who have been diagnosed with cancer from all states in America.
'This study collects data about heart attacks, cancer and other conditions that share risk factors with heart disease, such as dementia and Parkinson's disease,' Willett wrote. 'Dozens of other grants studying many diseases have used the dataset collected by this study.'
Read more: 'We are not just fighting for Harvard': For alums, this year feels different
The male-focused study, which has also been used for women's research, has unearthed the harmful effects of trans fat; made connections between healthy plant foods and lower cardiovascular risk; linked dietary patterns and prostate cancer risk; and associated olive oil benefits with a lower risk of dying from dementia.
There is another element of urgency in addition to the uncertain future of the biological samples: Willett says some participants may die before researchers are able to follow up with them next year for new information on their physical and cognitive functions.
'The termination of my grants thus jeopardizes our chance to collect data from the living study participants who have voluntarily contributed personal information over the last four decades,' Willett wrote. 'This would deprive all Americans from the benefits of knowledge about diet, other aspects of lifestyle, and use of medications that enhance their possibilities of living longer and healthier lives.'
Since April, the Trump administration has launched a series of attacks against Harvard.
Nearly $3 billion in federal funding has either been cut or frozen, and there was also a wave of federal research grant terminations.
The Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health announced in April that it was facing a 'significant budget crisis' resulting in layoffs and the non-renewal of two building leases. Since then, every one of the school's direct federal grants have been terminated and the school has even taken to social media to ask for donations.
Federal funding makes up 46% of Harvard Chan School's budget.
Read more: All Ivy League schools are supporting Harvard lawsuit — except these 2
U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon has also told the institution that the federal government would be barring Harvard University from acquiring new federal grants while the university continues to refuse to comply with the administration's demands for change on its campus.
Harvard President Alan Garber wrote in a letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon that they share the same 'common ground,' but the university 'will not surrender its core, legally-protected principles out of fear.'
Read more: Funding cuts, lawsuits, foreign students: The latest on Trump's war with Harvard University
Garber pushed back on the administration via a lawsuit in April. Harvard argues that its constitutional rights have been violated by the government's threats to pull billions of dollars in funding if the school doesn't comply with demands for an overhaul. Following a further $450 million in announced cuts, the university amended its lawsuit.
'No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,' the suit reads.
Due to the federal cuts, Harvard announced that it has committing $250 million of 'central funding' to support research impacted by suspended and canceled federal grants.
All Ivy League schools are supporting Harvard lawsuit — except these 2
Embassies directed to resume processing Harvard University student visas
Over 12,000 Harvard alums lend weight to court battle with Trump in new filing
'We are not just fighting for Harvard': For alums, this year feels different
What a monk, a librarian and a dentist have to do with Harvard's fight with Trump
Read the original article on MassLive.
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