James H. Shannon Building (Building One), NIH campus, Bethesda, MD. Credit: Lydia Polimeni, National Institutes of Health
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump began cutting scientific research budgets almost immediately—and with record pace—once they took office. Last week, the journal Nature analyzed where R&D is now and which fields of science and U.S. states are being hit hardest by grant terminations. So far, more than $2.3 billion allocated to U.S. researchers has been clawed back.
According to Nature, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has terminated nearly 800 research projects at a breakneck pace, wiping out significant chunks of funding to entire scientific fields. The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities has been hit the hardest, followed by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.
This has left many in the academic research community wondering how to continue their important research. Labcompare recently spoke to Linda De Jesus, VP/GM, Global Head of Commercial at Integrated DNA Technologies, about scientists can navigate these budget challenges and extraordinary changes. With more than 2,000 employees across 11 global locations, Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT)is a leading genomics solutions provider that has been a longstanding partner of choice for the academic research community.
“We know their research can’t stop—neither will the support IDT provides to advance its customers’ science,” said De Jesus.
Labcompare: How are potential National Institutes of Health funding changes impacting research labs?
De Jesus: There is a lot of ongoing discussion around the proposed changes happening at the National Institutes of Health and the “trickle-down effect” of potential grant funding cuts. While we don’t yet know the outcome of these changes, the sentiment is clear: Labs are feeling uncertainty about the future of their research, and how funding challenges will negatively impact the trajectory of the work they are doing to tackle a wide range of diseases, from influenza to cancer, Alzheimer’s and more.
We anticipate that these decisions will have a profound impact on research labs, who will be left to decide how to continue progressing their life-changing research. These labs are already feeling the burden on top of the ongoing challenges they face with limited resources and other financial constraints over the years.
Labcompare: What are some strategies research labs should consider to maximize their budgets and ensure their important research continues?
De Jesus: Now is an important time for labs to strategize how to optimize their current budgets in an ever-evolving funding landscape. Research institutions can do this by viewing suppliers as strategic partners rather than mere vendors. By collaborating closely with their partners, labs can leverage their partners' expertise in roadmap planning, domain knowledge, and supply chain management. This holistic approach helps align the suppliers’ capabilities with the lab’s scientific goals, leading to enhanced productivity, reduced inventory costs, and overall cost savings. Strategic partnerships foster a deeper understanding of the lab’s needs, enabling more efficient resource allocation and driving scientific progress forward.
Labcompare: What do you think the short- and long-term outlook is for grant funding?
De Jesus: Regardless of funding, scientific advances will—and must—continue. It will require attention from all of us to address critical needs going forward, but I believe we will weather the storm and science will prevail. Right now, it’s hard to speculate how the grant funding landscape will change. As things continue to unfold, researchers will need to start exploring other possible funding sources and be creative in how they maximize their current budgets to preserve their research in the short and long term. It’s too early to understand the magnitude of these proposed changes, but we can anticipate increased competition across researchers vying for other sources of funding.
Labcompare: Research continues to inform the discovery of new cancer biomarkers. How will funding challenges affect the field of cancer research?
De Jesus: Cancer research has driven major advances in the U.S. and across the world in how to prevent, diagnose, treat, and survive cancer. Next generation sequencing (NGS) has been essential for cancer research, paving the way for more informed insights, improved confidence in clinical reporting, and better treatment decisions. I believe that funding challenges will only stifle the progress the cancer research community has made, which in turn will impact the cancer patients they serve.
IDT has, and will continue to be, a company supporting life-changing research that is advancing the future of medicine and the fight against cancer. We stand united with the research community and are ready to help them navigate these challenges. The science must continue—because today’s research fuels tomorrow’s translational breakthroughs, paving the way for innovative therapeutics that have the potential to benefit patients’ lives.
Labcompare: How is IDT supporting its academic customers in advancing their science?
De Jesus: Scientific research has been the bedrock of Integrated DNA Technologies’ (IDT) work. It has been foundational to many of our customers’ scientific breakthroughs. IDT’s unwavering commitment to research fuels the advancements and innovations we’ve built as part of our portfolio of full genomics solutions. We will continue to be trusted partners for the academic community, and we are here to help ensure customers have the resources they need to advance their science.
Here are a few ways IDT is supporting researchers:
- Providing custom advice—customers can reach out to IDT for personalized advice and recommendations on tailored solutions for their needs. Our subject matter experts have deep scientific knowledge; they can help recommend bespoke solutions that were previously not considered, and can help problem-solve challenges to achieving research goals. For example, cancer researchers collaborate with IDT to develop highly customizable assays that help pinpoint single nucleotide variants (SNVs), novel fusions, and key genomic signatures like homologous recombination deficiency (HRD). We also offer a wide range of formulation, packaging and kitting services so that researchers can focus on their science.
- Driving innovations—For more than 35 years, IDT has leveraged its robust vertical manufacturing infrastructure and deep scientific expertise to drive customers’ genomics innovations. We operate as an extension of our customers’ team, filling resource and knowledge gaps, and work in lockstep to drive technological development and custom capability builds.
IDT will continue supplying critical components and full solutions for innovative research, reflecting our commitment to advancing science and medicine. We continually collaborate and partner with cutting-edge companies and innovative researchers who share our mission of accelerating the pace of genomics.
About the interviewee
As IDT Global VP and General Manager of Commercial, De Jesus focuses on elevating IDT’s market position and driving future strategic business growth for its expanding portfolio in Genomic Medicine comprised of next generation sequencing (NGS), CRISPR genome editing, synthetic biology and PCR solutions. Prior to joining IDT, De Jesus was at Azenta Life Sciences where she served as senior vice president and chief commercial officer. Prior to Azenta, De Jesus was VP and general manager for the Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry division of Thermo Fisher Scientific where she was responsible for a group of business units across consumables, instruments and software. De Jesus has an Executive MBA from University of Connecticut, School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Colombia University.