05/20/2026
Attendees: Suzanne, Esther, Alexis, Janice, Andrea, Shea, Isabel, Kim, Julie
Inspirational woman: Jennifer Doudna, UC Berkeley, Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Book recommendation: The Codebreaker by Walter Isaacson
Special Guest Speaker: Olivia Seidel, UCSD Ph.D. Student – Bio-chemistry (3rd generation scientist in her family)
Federal funding: the politics of science. Senate bill 895. Grad students and others are working on getting it on the ballot in November.
Usually federal fundings go to universities and research institutions. Some collaboration between private company and university such as Novartis and Texas university.
Example: Covid mRNA vaccine took 30 years to develop.
Science needs to be funded across multiple disciplines.
NIH in the 1930s
NSF in 1950
Lab advisors and students both apply for grants. 1 in 5 grant applications are funded. California receives about $6 billion annually from federal funds. Olivia’s PhD is funding by NIH. Examples of cuts at UCSD:
- Uri Manor, UCSD professor researching hearing loss. He layed off his lab members because lack of funding.
- Rommie Amaro, UCSD HIV and aerosols
- Ina Stelzer, UCSD maternal immune system
Congress voted NO on cuts to NIH budget for FY26!
Executive orders were fought in courts and WON, grants reinstated in June 2025 and review of grants reinstated in Dec 2025.
Science research can’t be turned off and on because research is lost if money is cut off.
Federal cuts will be voted during this summer for FY27 budget that starts Oct 1.
California has one agency and Texas has two agencies that fund scientific research. In California CIRM “California Stem Cell Agency”. Passed in 2004 59% yes vote. Funded through bonds. The government sells bonds, it’s essentially a load to the government that they repay over time with interest. State bonds are protected from Federal budget cuts.
Promote SB 895: The California Foundation for Science and Health Research.
California produces over half of the US’s biotech revenue.
Petition requires 500,000 signatures. Not enough signatures so they are taking the legislature route (governor approval). UC President delivered the petition to Gov Newsom. But it has to go through hoops to get SB895 on the November ballot.
Petition signature collection still ongoing.
The bill went from $23 billion to $12 billion over 10 years passed through the first round of budget negotiations.
Being pushed by UC students labor union.
Still valuable to gather signatures to show support to legislators. QR Code to sign petition.
