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When the Trump administration announced its $790 million funding freeze for Northwestern University, halting important research in labs across the university, Center for Synthetic Biology leaders sprang into action. Their mission? —To inform the public about what academic research means to society and why it matters.

Over the past few weeks, CSB co-directors Julius Lucks and Danielle Tullman-Ercek have made the rounds with local and national media to draw attention to the impacts of work stoppages in Northwestern research labs.

On WTTW’s Chicago Tonight Tullman-Ercek talked about the impacts of the loss of federal funding.

“Research at this level — the kinds of equipment that we need are expensive,” said Tullman-Ercek. “Materials and supplies are expensive. Just in general, it’s kind of like feeding your family. You know, food turns out to be a really big part of the budget, and the materials and supplies are the same way. So we will see how much there really is to support that side.”

In an interview with WBEZ Reset’s Sasha-Ann Simons, Lucks explained the impact of the stop on his lab and wider community. His lab is developing low-cost, at-home water-quality tests for people to test their water for lead. His team is deploying the kits to Chicago households. The stop-work order affects some of the laboratory work used to develop the tests.

“I think a lot of us are confused. We’re researchers. These cuts don’t come to the university as a whole. They’re coming to very specific research projects, and we’re doing everything we can to help people,” says Lucks. “We’re trying to help people understand if their water is safe to drink…Why in the world would the government want to stop these projects? Why are they coming so fast and when might others come?”

Across Northwestern, CSB researchers are working diligently to develop more sustainable technologies and improve human health to determine why some cells are resistant to cancer and whether an implantable device delivers a biological therapy on demand to treat obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

The cuts, however disruptive to researchers, are particularly harmful to students, the country’s future innovators.

“Universities are an engine of innovation. We do research to help people, but we also teach, and part of the teaching mission is for graduate students to teach them how to do the research,” said Lucks. “A big part of this is not just stopping the research project and stopping development of a clean water technology, for example, it’s stopping the trainer’s training of a future generation of leaders in science.”

To view or read recent media appearances by Lucks, Tullman-Ercek and other CSB community membesr, please click on the links below.

by Lisa La Vallee