Director's Message | Fall 2025

In our last newsletter, I shared concerns about proposed cuts to the NIH budget and how they would severely impact research and development at universities across the country. Since then, our center, along with the entire UCLA research community, faced an even more direct and disruptive challenge. In late July, the federal government suspended nearly all NIH funding to UCLA, casting a shadow over vital scientific work across campus.

I am relieved to share that after two challenging months, NIH funding was restored at the end of September, at least for the moment. This is welcome news for our faculty, trainees and staff at the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center, and for the patients and communities who depend on our work. Active projects can resume and the momentum toward promising new therapies can continue.

Yet this experience has been a sobering reminder of deeper challenges facing the scientific community. Beyond the immediate disruption, we are witnessing a troubling trend: the increasing politicization of science and fundamental changes to how federal research funding is allocated and prioritized. Such efforts to reshape the research enterprise will likely result in decreased funding opportunities and greater uncertainty for investigators across all disciplines. When scientific inquiry becomes subject to political calculations, we risk undermining the very foundation of discovery that has driven medical breakthroughs and economic progress for generations.

Economic history tells us that moments of constrained investment in research often have consequences far beyond the laboratory. Nobel laureate Paul Romer’s work on endogenous growth theory demonstrates that the expansion of knowledge, much of it generated by publicly funded research, is a key driver of long-term economic and societal progress. Likewise, the 2007 National Academies report “Rising Above the Gathering Storm" warned that reducing investment in science and engineering could erode the nation’s capacity for innovation, ultimately diminishing its health, security, and global leadership. These principles remain as relevant today as ever.

During the trying months when NIH funding was suspended, I observed remarkable resolve. Our researchers continued to support one another, to share resources, and to find creative paths to keep essential work moving forward. That commitment to both science and community is among our greatest strengths, even as morale has understandably been shaken and many questions about the future remain unanswered.

Our mission remains unchanged: to drive transformative discoveries in stem cell therapeutics and regenerative medicine and to meaningfully transform patient lives. While we navigate these turbulent times, we will continue to advocate for stable funding and the recognition that biomedical research is not a political bargaining chip, but a public good with lasting impact.

I am deeply grateful for the resilience and dedication you show every day in support of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center. Together, we will continue to champion the science that improves lives, rising above any obstacles before us and emerging even stronger.

Thomas Rando, MD, PhD
Director, UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center
Professor of Neurology and Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology