A professor at Harvard was studying ALS. He lost his funding after the federal freeze

Yahoo

16-04-2025

A laureate professor working on early diagnosis of ALS, or Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, is one of several Harvard University researchers who have received stop-work orders after the Trump administration froze more than $2.2 billion in funding over the university's refusal to bow to policy demands.
David Walt, a professor at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital said he received an email Tuesday from the Department of Health and Human Services that funding for a grant to research ALS was being immediately canceled.
'This cancellation will cost lives,' Walt told CNN's Richard Quest.
Walt's project focused on early diagnosis and treatment options for ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, a motor neuron disease that causes paralysis and affects roughly 30,000 people in the US. His grant was worth upwards of $300,000 per year, according to the student-run newspaper Harvard Crimson.
The project's cancellation follows the Trump administration's announcement on Monday that it would freeze $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in multi-year contract value at Harvard, after the school refused to comply with demands to eliminate its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, ban masks at campus protests, and ensure merit-based hiring practices, among other measures.
Harvard President Alan M. Garber said the university would not 'surrender its independence or its constitutional rights' by accepting the agreement, which the White House framed as an effort to curb antisemitism on college campuses.
Like many universities, Harvard receives funding from the US government for research and innovation. Federal funding is Harvard's largest source of support for research, contributing 58% of total sponsored revenue during the 2024 fiscal year, according to the University.
The Trump administration has taken aim at universities and colleges across the US by ending or demanding new conditions for research grants, deporting international students, and cutting overall federal support for scientific research. Harvard is among the first elite universities to directly reject the White House's demands, though other schools have lent their support to Harvard after it made its position public.
The fallout at the Ivy League school has been swift – and the consequences will be enormous, scientists have warned.
'This is going to have devastating consequences on innovation, education and the economy for years to come,' Walt said. 'The US, in my opinion, is ceding our science and technology leadership to China and to other countries.'
Just months ago, Walt was named laureate for the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, the highest honor in his field bestowed by the US president. Beyond the ALS work, Walt's lab works on the early detection of neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and other infectious diseases, to help discover new drugs which can potentially lead to cures.
'If we can even solve any one of these problems, it will benefit many, many patients,' he said. 'To take that opportunity away from me and other dedicated researchers, in my opinion, is a travesty.'
The White House doubled down Tuesday, threatening to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status and emphasizing President Donald Trump 'wanted to see Harvard to apologize' for 'the egregious antisemitism that took place on their college campus against Jewish American students.'
It is not yet clear how many programs in total will be affected by the funding freeze – but early reports suggest millions of dollars in funding for life-saving medical research have already been slashed.
Among the affected projects, Professor Donald E. Ingber has received two stop-work orders on contracts for the Center for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which develops vaccines, drugs, therapies and diagnostic tools for public health emergencies, his assistant told CNN. One of the terminated contracts is worth over $15 million, according to the Crimson.
Sarah Fortune, a professor at Harvard's School of Public Health, received a stop-work order for her tuberculosis research, according to a source at the school with knowledge of the information. The research is part of a $60 million National Institutes of Health contract involving Harvard and other universities across the US, the source said.
On Friday, before the funding freeze was announced, a group of Harvard professors sued the Trump administration to block a review of nearly $9 billion in federal funds to Harvard.
The suit, filed by the Harvard chapter of the American Association of University Professors, along with the national organization, warned the White House's actions have 'already caused severe and irreparable harm by halting academic research and inquiry at Harvard, including areas that have no relation whatsoever to charges of antisemitism or other civil rights violations.'