‘Exodus will require action’: chemistry laureates warn young researchers will desert US

‘At Columbia we are affected by complete uncertainty from one day to the next,’ laments Joachim Frank, a pioneer of cryo-electron microscopy who won the Nobel prize in chemistry in 2017 . Frank is referring to the situation at Columbia University that saw the Trump administration cut $400 million in federal grants and contracts in March over the institute’s supposed poor handling of on-campus protests against the war in Gaza – the grants were later restored after the university acceded to some of the administration’s demands.

The Trump administration is now targeting the funding of the next generation of scientists, Frank says, adding that if he were younger he would leave to pursue a research career in Europe, Frank adds. He’s not alone in this assessment, with one of last year’s chemistry Nobel laureates noting that about 15 graduate students and postdocs at his institute are already looking for work outside of the US.