The Broad Institute is laying off 22 people because of a decrease in funding to a federal grant, the Boston Globe reports. The grant in question, awarded to Bruce Birren for an infectious disease-focused genome sequencing center, was renewed and is still being funded, though at a lower funding level than before.
Nicole Davis, a Broad spokesperson, tells the Globe that the layoffs will affect a range of positions, including technicians and researchers, though she declines to specify which jobs would be cut. Davis adds that the institute is trying to find as many internal positions as possible to which those workers could be moved.
The National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases' Nalini Padmanabhan tells the Globe that the amount of money for such genome sequencing centers has declined. The centers previously received an average $11 million each per year, but the renewal includes $14 million total per year.
"While NIAID’s funding has decreased over the years for these centers, we continue to invest in other ... technologies in addition to sequencing, with a wide diversity of programs,” Padmanabhan tells the Globe.