Several federal, state, and city officials from Washington state and Seattle participated in a March 10 event at the National Nordic Museum to honor David Baker, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Washington School of Medicine who received the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
The event celebrated Baker’s groundbreaking contributions to biomedical research. However, amid the celebration, Baker and other speakers raised concerns over growing uncertainty surrounding federal support for scientific research. They warned of long-term consequences for the next generation of scientists and the nation as a whole.
Before reprising the Nobel Lecture he gave in Stockholm, Baker reported that recent instability in federal science funding is already having detrimental effects.
“It might be surprising to many people that most of the innovation doesn’t actually happen in the big companies; it happens at universities,” he said. “The universities also train the workforce for the biotech and pharmaceutical companies.”
