“It is really disappointing that the government cannot see the value of what we do,” said Carolyn Elya, deputy professor of molecular and cellular biology at Harvard. “It’s really a scary period because I am a young faculty, my laboratory is young, and we really try to take off things, so not have support on which we thought we could count is really disappointing.”
Hundreds of people gathered in front of the State House to protest against the financing reductions of the Trump administration in scientific research. pic.twitter.com/baxsb6ut11
– Emily Spatz (@Emilymspatz) March 7, 2025
The rally demonstrators, called standing for science, began the manifestation with songs, including “science saves lives” and “vaccines are great, imagine if we lose them”. Many have held panels, including a reading “Science Make America Great” and “Scientific funding pays for itself”, as well as several excavations to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump and Elon Musk.
They also sang the stand up for science Anthem up to “This land is your land” by Woody Guthrie, with words including “Hear Our Nostations; Heal diabetes; Science is good for you and me!
Similar rallies have been planned for around thirty other cities, including Washington, DC, where around 2,000 demonstrators met on Friday. The movement was inspired by the 2017 march for science, when millions of walkers around the world – including around 60,000 Boston – went to the streets to protest against the policies of the first Trump administration which were considered hostile to science.
Among the modifications of the Trump administration are a proposed NIH funding ceiling, which could reduce the annual funding for Massachusetts by at least $ 550 millionthe purge of scientific studies, databases and other information from government websites, and abrupt cancellation Millions of dollars in breed -related subsidies, gender problems and diversity. Many of these measures have been temporarily interrupted or disputed in court, but disputes continue.
Riss Kell, a postdoctoral scientist from the Institut de Gloucester Marine Economics who is researching cancer treatments using marine organizations, said that there was “a lot of fear in the community”.
“Our institution is mainly funded by philanthropy and federal science funding. Without federal scientific funding, we cannot work, “said Kell, holding a sign by reading” Federal science saves lives “. “Without (these institutions), that does not benefit anyone.”
Chloé Pacyna and Shubhayu Bhattacharyay, both medical students at Harvard who attended the demonstration together, said that the Trump administration movements have an impact on the future of young scientists.
“There are fewer opportunities for trainees, for post-doctoral students, and this has a very long-term impact on where these fields go,” said Bhattacharyay. The two students said their colleagues had lost opportunities in the laboratories, some of which have stopped accepting new students and discussed staff dismissal.
Pacyna, who trained in cancer genetics before entering the faculty of medicine, said that she had “really, really frightened by the future of science, especially for infant cancer”.
Many scientists from the demonstration said that their projects had not yet been affected, but they were “terrified” from what could happen.
“We are frozen in a state of not knowing what is going on. We are afraid of doing anything to move forward, ”said Becks Padrusch, who is a genetic researcher at Umass Chan Medical School. “Nothing has happened yet, but not knowing is almost worse, because we don’t know what the future will look like, and it’s terrifying.”
“I was really dismayed both by the catastrophic NIH funding cuts, but also this cultural fear that is resumed during scientific research and around researchers and funding a certain type of research,” said Pacyna.
The organizers of the Friday rally merged around specific objectives, in particular: restore federal funding for scientific research; Hire all scientists illegally dismissed in federal agencies; Prohibit all forms of political censorship in scientific research, including restrictions on scientific research subjects which are eligible for federal funding; Restore all data, reports and scientific resources on federal websites and restore all diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility programs within federal pre-Janvier agencies. 1 status.
Katie Blair, Director of Families of Massachusetts for vaccines, led the Boston chapter of the stand up for science rally. She declared to the globe in a previous interview that she feared the participation was not as robust as if she had taken place for a weekend, just like the original march of 2017.
But the organizers of the main event in Washington, DC, wanted to make sure that the gatherings would occur one day when most of the legislators worked and would see what the organizers hope to be a wave of base support.
Among the two dozen speakers of the rally, who lasted until 4 pm, was the representative of Massachusetts, Jake Auchincloss, a Democrat, who assured the crowd that he “has my vote”. In an interview with The Globe, Auchincloss said that Democrats fight cuts with disputes and must make sure Trump appropriates funds as the congress leads.
“Science is so effective, you forget what a world looks like without it looks like, and that’s really what’s going on,” said Padrusch. “Scientific research is so anchored in our society that people have taken its services for acquired, so they think without science, the world will continue to function as it is, and that is simply not the case.”
Kay Lazar, globe staff, contributed the reports.
The material of the stories and threads of the previous globe was used in this report.
Emily Spatz can be reached emily.spatz@globe.com. Follow it on x @EmilyMSPATZ.