Nearly 50 percent of U.S. biomedical grad students are foreign-born. According to Nature, visa processing backlogs could block as many as 150,000 students from entering U.S. programs this year. At Harvard, John Quackenbush called it “a self-inflicted wound.”
A recent survey by the Federation of American Scientists found 68 percent of early-career researchers had delayed or canceled projects due to federal uncertainty. NIH’s own internal data shows over 7,000 contracts terminated in the first half of 2025—many in RNA and genomics.
Linh doesn’t need a spreadsheet to see the consequences. She watches her PI archive the Slack workspace. Her visa expires in March. If delays continue, she’ll likely be stuck outside the country. She’s already packing.
And while the U.S. faltered, others filled the vacuum.
In Canada, a new mRNA plant in Laval received its manufacturing license in 2024 and began production soon after. In Germany, BioNTech is running phase 2 cancer vaccine trials in partnership with the NHS. Japan’s Daiichi Sankyo launched an approved mRNA booster in 2023. The WHO’s mRNA Technology Transfer Programme—spanning 15 countries—is now in full implementation, producing vaccines for dengue, RSV, and pandemic flu variants.
That’s not anti-American.
It’s post-American.
Global investment is scaling up. Evaluate Pharma estimates RNA therapeutics will surpass $30 billion globally by 2030. ClinicalTrials.gov lists over 400 active RNA-based therapies. Stéphane Bancel, CEO of Moderna, was blunt in a June investor call:
“Governments can step back. But the market won’t.”
Still, the shift feels less like a sprint lost and more like a baton dropped mid-race.
Linh pulls the next printed page from the tray. The text reads: …all remaining mRNA contracts under review pending final FY2026 allocations…
She folds the paper. The room smells of ozone and cooling plastic—the trace of something just printed.
Not just something ending.
But something leaving.
She slides the folder shut.
Bibliography
1. . Institut Pasteur. Discovery of mRNA. Accessed August 2025. https://www.pasteur.fr. Classic account of the 1961 Nature papers by François Gros, François Jacob, Sydney Brenner, and Matthew Meselson, credited with officially establishing messenger RNA.
2. Nobel Prize. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1989. Nobel Foundation. https://www.nobelprize.org. Background on Thomas Cech and Sidney Altman’s discovery of catalytic RNA (ribozymes), showing RNA can be enzyme as well as messenger.
3. Nobel Prize. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2006. Nobel Foundation. https://www.nobelprize.org. Covers Andrew Fire and Craig Mello’s discovery of RNA interference, revealing how small RNAs regulate gene expression.