- The Schroeder Lab at the University of Arizona, which researches metastatic breast cancer treatments, faces funding challenges in midst of changing federal policies.
- Longstanding decreases in research funding threaten the lab’s future, prompting a GoFundMe campaign.
When Joyce Schroeder looks back at what medical research has accomplished in the United States, she’s blown away.
The professor leads a cancer research lab at the University of Arizona. She says new therapies for one of modern medicine’s toughest challenges have continued to push what’s possible and save thousands of lives.
Just ask the students in one of her classes.
“We look at the new things that come out all across the world in cancer therapies,” Schroeder said. “And boy, this was just a banner year.”
But now Schroeder fears not only for the future of scientific research in the U.S., but for her own lab at the UA, as changing federal policies may make it harder for her to pay for the lab’s expenses following years of decreased financial support for the sciences.
The Schroeder Lab, which opened in 2002, studies metastatic breast cancer. That refers to a stage of cancer that is often harder to treat, as the disease has spread to other areas of the body. Among different kinds of research, the lab has spent years developing new potential treatments for cancer patients.
“We see what happens, we see what works, what doesn’t work, and we develop a new therapy to try and make it better,” Schroeder said.
But the lab will likely receive less financial support as Donald Trump’s administration seeks to limit the amount of indirect research costs paid with federal dollars. The abrupt change was announced in February, and although it was met with legal challenges, it remains in limbo. That comes on top of decreased funding for cancer research from the past decade, including money available to the National Cancer Institute.
In response to their budget concerns, a GoFundMe fundraiser was launched to support the lab’s research and staff. It’s raised around $2,000 so far, which would be the bare minimum to keep the lab open for a month, Schroeder said. She hopes to someday be able to test the lab’s latest treatment on people. But there’s still a chance they may not be able to.
“It’s a very sobering thought to think that we could get this close and do this much,” Schroeder said. “And then at the end of the road, suddenly there’s just no more money to get us across the finish line.”
Leaders across the country have been tracking the fast-changing funding policies. UA spokesperson Mitch Zak said the university continues to “closely monitor the ongoing legal and legislative process.”
In an update after the policy announcement in February, Tomás Díaz de la Rubia, UA’s senior vice president for research and innovation, told faculty members the change could translate into an annual loss of $40.5 million in research-support funds from the National Institutes of Health. The money typically goes to an array of items, such as utility costs and administrative support.
“These critical enablers of research are major reasons why the U.S. is the most technologically advanced nation in the world,” Díaz de la Rubia said in the February email. “The federal government’s partnership in research is crucial to maintaining our nation’s economic and national security advantage.”
The Schroeder Lab is able to apply for internal funding at UA, which has announced an increased investment in research since the start of President Suresh Garimella’s tenure at the university.
The university has also offered bridge funding, intended to temporarily fill some of the gaps left by dozens of canceled federal grants. Since the Schroeder Lab did not have an external grant canceled, it’s not eligible for that specific source of money. However, some grants that graduate students working there apply for and receive have fluctuated unpredictably.
The idea for the GoFundMe page started as a joke, Ph.D. student Danielle DiFranco said. But eventually, she launched it after encouragement from her family. Many of her relatives have had breast cancer, something that makes her work even more personal.
“They’ve been very passionate about donating,” DiFranco said.
DiFranco said she’s considering leaving UA sooner than planned in case she cannot find a way to continue her research as a Ph.D student. But finding a job in the sciences in the midst of federal cuts has proven to be increasingly difficult, she said. That’s something Schroeder is feeling across the industry as well.
Schroeder is the first in her family to graduate from college. The lifelong Arizonan said she never envisioned reaching the level of education she has today, let alone running her own lab, but credits it to the investments she received at an early age – both at a state and federal level. That’s something she fears may not be around for future generations.
“The general tenor out there is that suddenly science is not something that America wants to support,” she said. “Which makes me want to cry to say it, because I grew up in an America that believed in science.”
Helen Rummel covers higher education for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at hrummel@azcentral.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @helenrummel.
