Sandra Acosta

ALT Letters US funding freeze threatens biomedical research Guillermo Oliver, Northwestern University Federal funding is crucial for producing cutting-edge scientific, technological, and clinical breakthroughs, allowing universities to cover salaries, purchase reagents and equipment, and enroll patients in clinical trials. Yet in April, funding freezes were enacted at that affect Harvard University, Columbia University, Princeton University, Brown University, University of Pennsylvania, and Northwestern University (1). At Northwestern, almost $800 million has been frozen, without official notification, updates, or recourse (2,3). University faculty and leadership must speak out to make the public and colleagues aware of the funding freeze and to emphasize the dire effects of this policy on research, patients, and public health (4). The frozen funding corresponds to grants that have already been awarded after a stringent, competitive evaluation process that deemed them valuable.