MAINE PUBLIC • April 30, 2025
The president of MDI Biological Lab joined a panel of biomedical researchers on Wednesday who warned members of Congress that the Trump administration's cost-cutting measures could have long-lasting impacts on scientific research and public health. "The lives we save tomorrow depend on the decisions we make today," Hermann Haller, president of MDI Bio Lab in Bar Harbor, told the Senate Appropriations Committee. Since taking office, the Trump administration has eliminated thousands of jobs at agencies like the National Institutes of Health and paused or threatened to cancel billions of dollars in federal research grants to universities and laboratories. A preliminary budget document circulating within the Trump administration proposes cutting more than $47 billion — or roughly 40% of funding — from NIH.