More than 500 people gathered on the Boston Common Friday to protest the Trump administration’s funding cuts to scientific research, layoffs at federal science agencies, and censorship that they say imperils medical progress, innovation, and the economy.
The cuts disproportionately affect Massachusetts, which receives more funding per capita from the National Institutes of Health than any other state. In the last fiscal year, Massachusetts took in $3.5 billion that supported more than 5,783 projects, including finding drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease, slow antibiotic resistance, and fight childhood cancer.
At the rally, one of dozens held across the country and around the world, protesters voiced concerns about cuts to everything from cancer research to vaccine availability.
“It’s really disappointing that the government can’t see the value in what we do,” said Carolyn Elya, an assistant professor of molecular and cell biology at Harvard. “It’s really a scary time because I’m a young faculty, my lab is young, and we’re trying to really get things off the ground, so not having support that we thought we could rely on is really disappointing.”
Demonstrators at the rally, dubbed Stand Up for Science, started off the protest with chants including “Science saves lives,” and “Vaccines are awesome, imagine if we lost them.” Many held signs, including some reading “Science makes America great” and “Science funding pays for itself,” as well as several making digs at Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump, and Elon Musk.
They also sang the Stand Up for Science anthem to the tune of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land,” with lyrics including “Hear our entreaties; Cure diabetes; Science is good for you and me!”
Similar rallies were planned for some 30 other cities, including Washington, D.C., where around 2,000 protesters gathered Friday. The movement was inspired by the 2017 March for Science, when millions of marchers worldwide — including an estimated 60,000 in Boston — took to the streets to protest the first Trump administration’s policies that were viewed as hostile to science.
Among the Trump administration’s changes are a proposed NIH funding cap, which could reduce annual funding in Massachusetts by at least $550 million, the purging of scientific studies, databases, and other information from government websites, and the abrupt cancellation of millions of dollars in grants related to race, gender issues, and diversity. Many of these moves have been temporarily halted or contested in court, but litigation continues.
Riss Kell, a postdoctoral scientist at the Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute who researches cancer treatments using marine organisms, said there is “a lot of fear in the community.”
“Our institution is mainly funded by philanthropy and federal science funding. Without federal science funding, we can’t work,” Kell said, holding a sign reading “Federally funded science saves lives.” “Without [these institutions], it benefits no one.”
Chloe Pacyna and Shubhayu Bhattacharyay, both medical students at Harvard who attended the protest together, said the Trump administration’s moves are impacting the future of young scientists.
“There’s less opportunities for trainees, for postdocs, and that has a very long-term impact on where these fields go,” said Bhattacharyay. Both students said their colleagues have lost opportunities in labs, some of which have stopped accepting new students and discussed laying off staff.
Pacyna, who trained in cancer genetics before entering medical school, said she is “really, really scared about the future of science, especially for childhood cancer.”
Many scientists at the protest said their projects had not been affected yet, but they were “terrified” of what could happen.
“We’re frozen in a state of not knowing what’s happening. We’re afraid to do anything moving forward,” said Becks Padrusch, who is a genetic researcher at UMass Chan Medical School. “Nothing’s happened yet, but not knowing is almost worse, because we’re not sure what out future is gonna look like, and it’s terrifying.”
“I’ve been really dismayed by both the catastrophic funding cuts from the NIH, but also this cultural fear that’s taken over scientific research and around silencing researchers and defunding certain kind of research,” Pacyna said.
The organizers of Friday’s rally coalesced around specific goals, including: reinstating federal funding for scientific research; rehiring all unlawfully terminated scientists at federal agencies; prohibiting all forms of political censorship in scientific research, including restrictions on the topics of scientific research that are eligible for federal funding; restoring all scientific data, reports, and resources on federal websites, and restoring all diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility programs within federal agencies to pre-Jan. 1 status.
Katie Blair, director of Massachusetts Families for Vaccines, led the Boston chapter of the Stand Up for Science rally. She told the Globe in a previous interview that she worried turnout might not be as robust as if it were held on a weekend, as was the original 2017 march.
But organizers of the main event in Washington, D.C., wanted to ensure the rallies would happen on a day when most lawmakers were working and would see what organizers hope will be an outpouring of grassroots support.
Among the some two-dozen speakers at the rally, which lasted until around 4 p.m., was Massachusetts Representative Jake Auchincloss, a Democrat, who assured the crowd it “has my vote.” In an interview with the Globe, Auchincloss said Democrats are fighting the cuts with litigation and need to ensure Trump appropriates funds as Congress directs.
“Science is so effective, you forget what a world without it looks like, and that’s really what’s happening,” Padrusch said. “Scientific research is so ingrained in our society that people have taken its benefits for granted, so they think without science, the world will continue to function just as it is, and that’s simply not the case.”
Kay Lazar of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the name of the Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute.
Emily Spatz can be reached at emily.spatz@globe.com. Follow her on X @emilymspatz.