Scientists strangled by Trump cry out to the Catalan government: "We are in a situation of extreme urgency"

Barcelona"We are in a situation of extreme urgency." This is the desperate plea of a dozen Catalan scientists who had collaborative projects with American institutions and who have seen their funding cut off by the Donald Trump administration without any explanation. In total, 12 biomedical projects are affected, projects that the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) had approved for funding of $6.3 million—approximately €5.4 million—and which were to be sold entirely in Catalonia between 2025 and 2022.

A few weeks ago, scientists from seven different centers and hospitals met with the Director General of Research, Teresa Sanchís, to explain their "critical" situation and "urgently" request that the Catalan government help them compensate for the loss of these projects, as other countries like Canada, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Denmark have done. For Catalonia, they argue, not being able to carry out these projects will mean "a loss of leadership, achieved over years by its research teams, and a loss of international competitiveness." Furthermore, it will significantly impact highly qualified research staff, whom they will have to lay off because they lack the resources to keep them employed. Therefore, the affected scientists conveyed to Sanchís their request that the Catalan government "fully compensate" them for what they are still owed from the projects. "And if that's not possible, then partial mechanisms should be implemented, such as covering the cost of the contracted staff or compensating for the 2025-2026 period, which is the time needed to request, evaluate, and award new projects," explains Javier Martínez-Picado, ICREA researcher at IrsiCaixa, to ARA.

This researcher is one of the most affected, with two immunovirology projects studying how the innate immune system, which is activated shortly after an infection, reacts to viruses. "We've lost scientific control of the projects," he admits, dejected. "Not only have we shared information, data, and samples with our American partners—information we won't be able to use—but we've also lost our place among the leading international centers of biomedical research. And this is a loss for Catalonia," he adds.

Zaida Álvarez, a researcher at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), agrees. She had a project with Northwestern University of Chicago and IDIBELL worth 3.5 million euros – 1.5 million of which were earmarked for Catalonia – to create models in vitro 2D and 3D imaging, as well as spinal cord organoids, are being used to study diseases such as ALS or spinal cord injuries. "Neither the Catalan government nor the Spanish government is responsible for the situation, of course," he acknowledges. However, Álvarez emphasizes: "Faced with an absolutely unexpected scenario, a contingency plan and support for its researchers are to be expected." He adds:Talent attraction programs from the U.S. have been implemented.But what about the researchers in the Catalan system?"

For now, although Sanchís told them that the Research Department would study their situation as soon as possible, they haven't received any response. "It's clear that right now we're not a priority, neither for the Catalan nor the Spanish government," he laments. Sanchís responds that the Research and Universities Department is "sensitive to the professional and personal situation of researchers" and that "their situation is being analyzed."

Highly competitive aid

Very few groups worldwide manage to secure NIH funding because it is a highly competitive type of grant, as is also the case with funds awarded by the European Research Council (ERC). The success rate for the last call for proposals was around 8%. This means that only researchers of scientific excellence manage to be funded by this institution. This is the case of Marc Liesa, a CSIC scientist at the Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona (IBMB), who returned to Catalonia three years ago after a research career at the University of California, Los Angeles. And it was precisely with researchers from this institution that he had won a project to understand how the beta cell of the pancreas may be causing insulin resistance and initiating type II diabetes.

“We had been awarded €680,000 for a five-year period. It’s a very generous amount, triple the average awarded by National Plans in Spain,” laments Liesa, for whom this project was the boost she needed to consolidate her laboratory. “Strategically, it’s crucial that European teams stay at the forefront of medical science to remain at the forefront,” she believes. On April 1st, the funding was cut off without any prior notification or communication. A month later, as ARA had already reported, the journal Nature It anticipated the Trump administration's intention to stop funding research projects at laboratories and hospitals outside the US that had previously received NIH funding. This institution was the world's leading source of funding for biomedical research, not just in the United States. Since then, Catalan researchers have faced an uncertain situation.