U of T launches emergency research fund to support faculty hit by U.S. cuts

The University of Toronto is taking steps to safeguard critical U of T research threatened by unexpected U.S. funding cuts — creating an emergency research fund that provides up to one year of bridge support to faculty most affected by the changes.

Recent restrictions on U.S. federal funding streams for international partnerships have left dozens of U of T researchers, primarily in the biomedical sciences, facing sudden shortfalls. These disrputions risk derailing long-term projects, triggering layoffs and stalling potential discoveries.

The goal of the fund is to ensure that affected projects can continue moving forward —  supporting graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, and protecting staff — while giving lead researchers time to seek out alternative funding sources.

U of T President Melanie Woodin says the initiative will allow U of T faculty to maintain their research momentum and prepare the next generation of investigators to build on their progress.

“This fund gives our faculty and their teams the stability they need to keep pushing the boundaries of knowledge across key fields — from climate change to cutting-edge treatments for cancer and other deadly diseases,” Woodin said. 

“Canada — and the world — is counting on sustained investment in our mission of discovery and innovation.”

Each year, U of T researchers typically receive about $20 million originating from U.S. granting agencies, often through partnerships with American universities. However, a significant portion of that support has been disrupted by new U.S. rules. For example, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) now prohibits American institutions from directing parts of new or renewed grants to international partners — a shift that severs a vital channel of funding and collaboration that has long powered Canadian labs and fuelled discoveries with global impact. 

Many U of T researchers are already feeling the hit. 

Paul Fraser, professor of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine’s Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases, said the impact was immediate. 

His team, along with investigators in Milan, Italy, had been collaborating with colleagues at Columbia University to advance a promising new therapy for Alzheimer’s disease and other neurogenerative disorders. The therapy uses a small protein biologic to delay the onset of symptoms such as memory loss.

But due to new U.S. funding restrictions, the non-American researchers were excluded from the project. Another NIH application tied to the same therapy was also caught up in the policy shift.

The disrupted funds were earmarked for research staff, technical support and supplies for the studies. Without U of T’s emergency research fund, Fraser said, the program might have collapsed.

“It gives you a whole year of breathing room that makes all the difference. I would have had to let people go,” he said. “If you lose somebody with 10 years of experience, you never get that back.”

The U.S. funding shift also disrupted a key pipeline for Artem Babaian just as his young lab was hitting its stride.

An assistant professor of molecular genetics at Temerty Medicine’s Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, Babaian’s team develops cloud computing tools to search massive genetic databases for elusive RNA viruses that may play a role in diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Crohn’s and cancer.

He was set to advance this work in collaboration with a New York colleague through an NIH-led consortium – until the new restrictions cut off his cross-border support.

The loss put new hires at risk and threatened to stall his lab before it could gain traction in a global race where speed and scale are critical.

“The first five years of starting a lab is highly competitive,” Babaian said. “I’m starting to sprint – competing against people who have already been running – and all of a sudden, there’s a stumbling block.”

The bridge support from U of T’s emergency research fund allowed him to keep his team intact and his work on track. But Babaian said the broader lesson is clear: Canada can’t rely on external funding to sustain the research that will shape its future.

“The most important thing that we can do is view this as a generational opportunity for Canada to step up to the plate and be a world-class innovator,” he said. “We should do everything in our power to keep investing in research because that's going to be the future of the Canadian economy.”