BY TEDDY WARNER
LAHS Alumnus – 2017
4th Year PhD Student in Chemistry
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

(Note: This column is part of the McClintock Letters, a collection of letters by scientists in honor of Barbara McClintock, the first American woman to win an unshared Nobel Prize in the sciences for her discoveries in genetics that revolutionized plant breeding and gene therapy. For more information on the McClintock Letters campaign, please view https://blogs.cornell.edu/asap/events-initiatives/the-mcclintock-letters/.)

This year has seen unprecedented attacks to American science ranging from arbitrary grant cancellations to the termination of large numbers of federal employees at agencies such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH). These effects have been felt extensively within life sciences, especially as the federal budget advances. The proposed budget for the Department of Health and Human Services cuts cancer research by 38%, infectious disease research by 36%, and Alzheimer’s disease research by 39%. 1

My name is Teddy Warner and I am a 4th year PhD student in chemistry at MIT and I am from Los Alamos (LAHS ’17). I have joined this letter writing campaign to spread awareness of the importance of many types of science throughout the country. Of course, we see this every day in Los Alamos, but I would like to share my experience studying bacterial infections.

My research at MIT focuses on the cell wall of tuberculosis and related bacteria. Tuberculosis is the leading cause of death due to infectious disease worldwide, with 8.2 million infections and 1.25 million deaths a year. 2 Much of the difficulty in treating tuberculosis is in the extremely thick cell wall (region between the arrows): 3

Most potential treatments cannot get through the cell wall to kill the bacteria. I have been working on better understanding how the cell wall is made and organized. For example, I have recently made a compound that lets us see where certain lipids (waxy molecules that protect bacteria from antibiotics) are located. 4 These lipids, shown in blue, are made at the center of a dividing cell, which is very protected.

We have also used similar compounds to see how bacteria protect themselves from antibiotics by remodeling their lipids to stop the immune system (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IETPbvx9kw). 5 From this, we now know to propose new treatments that can reactivate the immune system instead of more conventional antibiotics.

From all of this, we have learned more about how the cell wall is made, how bacteria avoid antibiotics, and have new tools to diagnose infections. This is all under basic research, which focuses on better understanding nature. Basic research is primarily funded by the federal government. 6 My research in particular is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship.

Even before proposed funding cuts this year, the turmoil at the federal level has had profound effects on the availability of scientific research. This year, the NSF awarded 50% fewer fellowships and many graduate programs sharply decreased admissions. 7 This level is almost as low as during the 2008 recession. Both proposed cuts and general uncertainty around research funding will have profound impacts to American research potential, likely at the benefit of China and the EU. This comes with great economic costs as well – it is estimated that New Mexico has already lost $64,000,000 and will continue to lose $51,000,000 a year of economic activity if the proposed cuts to science pass. 8

New Mexico’s representatives in Congress have done a good job in supporting science. 9 However, public support in science is essential to its continuity and economic benefits. I would recommend signing the Citizens for Science Pledge (tiny.cc/sciencepledge) and continual contact with members of Congress.

1 https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-researchpolicy/2025/06/03/new-details-trumps-budget-cuts-alarm-researchers
2 https://www.who.int/news/item/29-10-2024-tuberculosis-resurges-as-top-infectious-disease-killer
3 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.9b02290
4 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/jacs.4c17913
5 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/jacs.4c00617
6 https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf24332
7 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01098-9
8 https://scienceimpacts.org/
9 https://www.heinrich.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/heinrich-lujan-raise-alarm-over-trump-admin-pushing-illegal-funding-cuts-to-nih-and-derailing-lifesaving-research