Nobel winners: US funding cuts put scientific progress in peril

Unprecedented funding cuts in the US are making it difficult for potential new generation scientists to break through as the 3 winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine did. Funding is “in danger,” leaving enormous hurdles to overcome in solving the main mysteries of the brain, according to James Rothman who, with Randy Schekman of the United States, were honored for their work on how cells organize their cargo and move molecules – a process that contributes to normal body and brain function but is also at the root of neurological diseases, diabetes, and immune disorders. They said the shrinking budget for the National Institutes of Health, the largest funder of US research, has left funding for only 17% of applications for grants. They shared the Nobel prize with Thomas Suedhof of Germany.

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