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Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have spent years trying to unravel the details of Down syndrome: What happens inside the womb, how the genetic disorder alters the formation of neurons, and what specific processes affect brain development. The work can’t proceed without studying fetal tissue.

Anita Bhattacharyya, an associate professor of cell and regenerative biology, said her lab’s findings so far are significant, having identified a layer of late-developing neurons that are reduced in the brains of fetuses with Down syndrome. If she were to start her career again, however, she isn’t sure she would follow the same path. “It seems too risky,” she said. She warily monitors the state legislature, where there is ongoing debate, and therefore uncertainty, over changes to rules governing fetal tissue research. And much is riding on the outcome of the November presidential election.

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Fetal tissue is used for a broad swath of biological and medical studies, including work with stem cells and research on cancer biology and brain development. The Trump administration created significant barriers to this research and, though they were lifted after President Biden’s election, federal funding of studies relying on fetal tissue has not fully rebounded.

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