This spring, researchers in various science disciplines and young scientists, who were just beginning their careers, spearheaded a campaign to write to news organizations nationwide about their passion for science and the threat posed to their ability to do research by budget cuts planned &mdash; and in some cases carried out &mdash; by the Trump administration.

The campaign was part of a larger effort called the McClintock Letters Initiative, named for the geneticist Barbara McClintock, who was the first woman to win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine that was not shared with a man. McClintock accepted a position in the 1940s at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where she conducted her groundbreaking research, winning the Nobel Prize in 1983. She died in Huntington in 1992.

The five essays here were written by current researchers&nbsp;at Cold Spring Harbor Lab. They are conducting research on breast cancer, hearing issues, and applications of artificial intelligence to health care, and are worried about their ability to continue that work in the future. Their opinions are their own.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Opinion

Commentary

Guest Essays

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I am a Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory doctoral student studying the interactions between breast cancer and the nervous system. I first joined the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory community in 2022 as part of the Undergraduate Research Program. URP provided me a network and exposure that inspired me to pursue a PhD in biology. 
I am now studying how breast cancer spreads to the lungs, a sign of advancing disease, and how it interacts with the local nervous system. With breast cancer affecting 1 in 8 women, and my mother being a survivor, I feel this research has great urgency. Throughout diagnosis and treatment, my mother endured chronic stress and sleep difficulties — both of which are regulated by the nervous system. This led to my interest in cancer-nervous system interactions, especially in later stages of the disease, and I hope my research will show a potential route for new therapeutic targets. 
Although I am funded by a private endowment, much of Cold Spring Harbor’s research and scientific infrastructure — for example, its equipment, staff, and utilities — is federally funded. With federal research funding now at risk, we are moving through our work with caution and anxiety, which has taken a significant toll on our mental health. Observing nationwide decreases in graduate school classes, losses in funding for cancer research, and the effect on the National Institutes of Health workforce feels dystopic — I often feel paralyzed in my work because I question whether the government will find my research worthwhile. My communities within and beyond science are being impacted by the current administration’s policies and I’m increasingly focused on ways I can make a difference. 
I was drawn to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory because of the ease of scientific collaboration and the educational programs it provided — programs now threatened nationwide due to the current federal mandates. It’s both disheartening and alarming how this has already impacted institutions and students. I personally fear for the future of education because the scaffolding allowing minoritized groups to enter fields in STEM is being dismantled. When we broaden access to research through inclusive educational infrastructure, we are arming ourselves with the diverse perspectives that generate innovative questions and more compassionate and multifaceted solutions. 
Targeting scientific research is shortsighted when it is the public that we are serving. The work scientists do — like finding new pathways for treating cancer — is critical for our biomedical, agricultural, and environmental futures. 
All of it deserves adequate funding. 
 &nbsp; 
Mia Lin Amato is a graduate student at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

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Probing how breast cancer interacts with nervous system

Probing how breast cancer, nervous system interact

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I am a computational biologist interested in interpretable machine learning for genomics and health care. Interpretable artificial intelligence models are important because they reveal not just what patterns exist in data, but why those patterns matter. Think of it like this: Instead of just telling a doctor “this patient has cancer,” interpretable AI models can explain that “this patient has cancer because of these specific genetic markers we found.” 
Essentially, interpretability techniques can transform mysterious computer predictions — what we call “black-box” predictions because you can’t see how the computer reached its conclusion — into more understandable insights. This transparency is especially crucial for health care, where doctors need to understand how AI arrives at diagnoses or treatment recommendations before trusting those decisions with patients’ lives. In graduate school, I want to develop AI systems that can identify disease mechanisms and new drug targets, while ensuring these models remain transparent and trustworthy for clinical use. 
At Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, I am part of PREP, the Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program. This program has been transformative in introducing me to the intersection of machine learning and biology. PREP has helped me grow skills that will be fundamental as I begin the journey of my scientific career. 
Now, PREP programs no longer exist because of funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health. I wouldn’t be the scientist I am today without Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s PREP program. As a child of immigrants and a queer woman of color, I rarely see computational scientists who share my background or experiences. The PREP program not only gave me the foundations essential for my upcoming PhD at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but also provided a supportive community where I could envision myself thriving as a scientist. 
Without these programs, I think we not only lose a transformative training program for young scientists, but we also risk losing the voices and perspectives that drive innovation and ensure science serves everyone. 
 &nbsp; 
Nirali Somia is a graduate student at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

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Exploring interpretable machine learning

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I am a fourth-year graduate student in Jeremy Borniger’s lab at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Our lab is a group of cancer biologists and neuroscientists who focus on the relationship between cancer and the nervous system. 
I study triple negative breast cancer, an aggressive type of breast cancer that resists common treatments like hormone therapy. I am investigating its relationship to a part of the brain stem that controls stress signals in the body which accelerate the cancer growth. I am trying to find ways to disrupt this relationship to slow this cancer growth as a potential new avenue for treatment. 
As a graduate student of the Cold Spring Harbor School of Biological Sciences, I am extremely fortunate to be privately funded. However, I am reaching the end of the program, and I will soon enter the job market. The Trump administration’s termination of National Institutes of Health-funded grants for cancer and neuroscience research, as well as the disruptions of the review process for new grants, will dramatically impact my ability to secure a job. New positions in academia are now rare, as laboratories across the country are wrestling with financial instability and uncertainty. 
I am scared about my future and the future of science in the United States. I grew up in Pelham, New York and currently live in Queens. I want to stay in the United States, but I am being forced to consider leaving the country to find a position in academia. Nothing in the world could keep me from being a scientist, but these budget cuts are going to make a career in the United States extremely difficult for me. 
 &nbsp; 
Nikolas Holland is a graduate student at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

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Investigating 'triple negative' breast cancer

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Long Island is home to one of the nation’s known breast cancer clusters — areas with higher-than-average breast cancer rates. For many in our community, breast cancer is a deeply personal and ongoing reality that affects patients, families, and caregivers. 
At Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, under the mentorship of Camila dos Santos, associate professor and co-leader of the Cancer Center Program, I study breast cancer in a way that reflects the full complexity of people’s lives. My research focuses on metastasis, the spread of cancer to other parts of the body, which is the leading cause of breast cancer deaths. I investigate how common life events, like pregnancy or urinary tract infections, can influence how breast cancer spreads and whether these events might cause cancer to return after treatment. Unlike many other cancers, breast cancer can come back years, even decades, after treatment. Through this work, I hope to find better ways to prevent cancer spread and recurrence and to develop treatments that truly address the whole patient. 
But this kind of research, and the hope it brings, is only possible through public investment in science. I’m proud to be supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program, one of the longest-running STEM fellowships in the country. My lab’s work is also supported by the National Institutes of Health. Without funding from these agencies, funding that is now at risk, my research would not exist. 
When we fund science, we invest in healthier futures for our communities and work together toward a future without cancer. For places like Long Island, where the stakes are especially high, that investment is not just important — it’s essential. 
This guest essay reflects the views of Emma Courtney, a graduate student at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

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Studying metastatic breast cancer

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I am a hard-of-hearing first-year doctoral student at Harvard Medical School with aspirations to conduct hearing-related research. I grew up in Centerport and graduated from Harborfields High School before attending Rochester Institute of Technology. After graduating from RIT, and before beginning graduate school, I participated in the inaugural 2023 cohort of the National Institutes of Health-funded Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program (PREP) at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Programs like CSHL-PREP serve as pipelines for students to enter rigorous, research-intensive biomedical doctoral programs. 
Due to recent NIH budget cuts and restructuring, PREP programs have been indefinitely canceled nationwide. In my case, PREP was instrumental in providing the research training, mentorship, and professional development I needed to successfully transition from undergraduate education to doctoral-level research. Without PREP, I would not have been nearly as prepared to begin my graduate studies. 
Beyond supporting training programs, the NIH was one of the largest funders of hearing-related research. However, I am now finding it challenging to identify laboratories at which I can do my thesis research because of the budget cuts. In all the laboratories I have spoken with, significant concerns have been expressed over the availability of funding to take on students, let alone conduct the types of research I am interested in. 
Despite the prevalence of hearing loss, research investigating the basic biological mechanisms underlying auditory impairment was already limited. In my case, I had hoped to investigate the cellular regulators that control auditory function. This area of research is deeply personal to me, as my own hearing impairment resulted from a medication now known to cause auditory damage. Studying hearing loss at the cellular level is essential not only for advancing our understanding of how we perceive the world, but also for improving the design and functionality of hearing devices that millions of children and adults depend on to sense the world around them. 
 &nbsp; 
Daniel DiMartino is a doctoral student at Harvard Medical School working at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

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Investigating hearing-related issues

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NIH cuts worry researchers at Long Island's Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

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Exterior view of the entrance to the Cold Spring Harbor Lab.

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NIH cuts worry researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

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