ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:
The U.S. used to be the research engine of the world. Now, China may be taking the dominant role, thanks to massive investment and a disruptive year for American universities. I'm going to tell you about this dynamic through two researchers, one in Boston and one in Shanghai, hoping for the same breakthrough - a gene therapy for deaf teens.
DAVID COREY: I mean, I've been working on the inner ear for close to 50 years now.
NADWORNY: David Corey is a professor of neurobiology at Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on how cells in the inner ear and the proteins within them translate sound to the brain.
COREY: So if they're mutations in the protein, then the ear doesn't work. And if it's a hereditary mutation, then a child might be born without hearing, might be born deaf.
NADWORNY: Corey is developing therapies that can alter those proteins, reestablishing hearing in kids. And they were making really good progress. But last year, the federal research grant funding Corey's lab at Harvard was frozen by the Trump administration. It was among the billions of dollars in grants to universities that the White House halted after many of the schools, Harvard among them, rejected a list of the administration's demands.
COREY: This is a research program that we've been doing for 40 years, and now it's kind of cut off at the knees without any real reason.
NADWORNY: The White House did not provide comment on why Corey's grant was frozen. But after a federal judge ruled the Trump administration had broken the law by halting research grants. His grant was reinstated. By then, staff had left, research had stopped, and it's taken months to restart. New federal policies that add scrutiny to current grant proposals are making it harder to get new research dollars. Just last month, a handful of elite universities, including Harvard and Duke, had dozens of research grants held up or paused without explanation.
COREY: Science at major academic medical centers is really going well. It's really exciting. I mean, every day, there are new breakthroughs, new understandings of how different tissues or organs or senses work. And these are leading to cures for diseases. So at the time when it's kind of most exciting, and we really want to work on this, to have the funding taken away makes it very, very difficult. Meanwhile, there's really exciting work being done in other countries.
YILAI SHU: I have enough money to do research. I just use money to do research.
NADWORNY: That's Dr. Yilai Shu. He is a physician and research scientist at Fudan University in Shanghai. China is pouring huge resources into developing all sorts of biological research, including gene therapy. For Shu, who is working on solving the same problems David Corey is, that means his lab has plenty of staff, supplies and can just get more done in his growing lab.
SHU: It's growing bigger, bigger. My lab is bigger than the lab when I was in Boston.
NADWORNY: Shu actually trained in Boston at Harvard Medical School, where Dr. Corey works. For decades, the U.S. has brought the smartest people in the world, like Yilai Shu, to our shores. Many have stayed. Shu wanted to, but family and a scientific opportunity with lots of funding drew him back home. That decision was rewarded when his team had a successful trial on a single injection that can restore hearing. Shu recalls his pride after talking to the parents of a young girl born deaf with a rare condition. They had just heard their daughter responding to their voices.
SHU: When the parents told me, Dr. Shu, maybe works because she can turn back when we call her. Before, she didn't response anytime.
NADWORNY: These are the kind of miracle breakthroughs the U.S. has long been known for. Researchers on both sides of the ocean feel the U.S. just isn't keeping up.
COREY: I'm not sure I would say that there's jealousy but frustration, I think, that American scientists haven't been able to move as quickly.
NADWORNY: Back in Boston, David Corey continues to apply for grants, struggling with funding. He says he sees the U.S. cutbacks to funding research a huge loss in economic opportunity. And without funding, he says, we won't have as many breakthroughs or cures to make us all healthier.
COREY: It's great that the progress is being made, but I think it could have been made in the United States.
NADWORNY: I asked Yilai Shu about this rivalry.
SHU: Our success...
NADWORNY: There's got to be a little bit of joy, though, in being the first, in beating the U.S.
SHU: Actually, I (laughter) - I - yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes.
NADWORNY: And yet, from Shu's spot as a superstar in the field, it's hard to watch what's happening to research funding in the U.S.
SHU: To be frank, I really - I feel kind of sad because when I was in Boston - yes - 12 years ago, I think the environment is better.
NADWORNY: Harvard does produce more research now than it did two decades ago, but China continues to pour more money into university research. In a global ranking measuring academic output from Leiden University in the Netherlands, Harvard lost its top spot to a university in China. In fact, seven out of the top 10 schools are in China. For families in the U.S., David Corey says it's pretty simple.
COREY: You know, it may be that we can tell somebody, yeah, there's going to be a cure for your deaf child.
NADWORNY: You just might have to go to Shanghai, he says, to get it.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAMBAL AND TRISTAN DE LIEGE'S "FIRST RAINS") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
