From the smallest lab bench to the largest pharma pipeline, every discovery relies on the same invisible network of publicly funded data resources and open-source software tools. They are the launchpad for target identification, the scaffolding for experiments, and the accelerators that help companies move at the speed of need.
Imagine losing access to PubMed, TCGA, or UniProt overnight? 94% of global scientists surveyed said these resources are essential to their work yet most feel unprepared for disruption. Take them away and the engine of science grinds to a halt. No breakthroughs. No startups. No new drugs.
And here is what keeps me up at night: these resources are at risk.
Years ago, I managed a federally funded open-source project used by thousands of scientists worldwide. I know exactly how much these tools fuel progress and how maddeningly difficult it is to keep them funded once the “shiny new” phase fades.
Fast-forward to 2025. At the Bio-IT World Conference & Expo, leaders from biotech, pharma, academia, and policy came together with the sobering realization that our public biomedical data infrastructure — the very foundation of modern research — is vulnerable. Funding shifts, shrinking budgets, uncertain maintenance, and mounting technical challenges are threatening its future.
That’s why we founded the Global Alliance for Open Science (GAFOS). Our mission: protect and strengthen the open, stable, accessible data and tools science depends on. We advocate for sustainable, long-term funding, smarter policy, and are mobilizing a global community that refuses to let these resources fail.
We wanted data to back our urgency, so from April to July 2025, we ran a global survey. Researchers from more than 15 countries across academia, biotech, pharma, nonprofits, and government told us what we already suspected:
- Publicly funded resources like TCGA, GTEx, ENCODE, UniProt, and clinicaltrials.gov are mission-critical.
- Instability in U.S. funding creates global risk.
- The scientific community is largely unprepared for disruption.
- There’s strong consensus on the need for coordinated, long-term sustainability planning.
I shared these early results at the 33rd Conference on Intelligent Systems for Molecular Biology (ISMB 2025) with the poster From Open Access to Uncertain Access. The attendees I spoke with could immediately see how without these resources, their work — and the innovations patients are counting on – would be in jeopardy.
Corporate alternatives exist, but they’re often prohibitively expensive, slower to adapt, and less flexible than open resources built by and for the scientific community. Open source is different. It is built in the fast lane by academics and a global community of researchers who can pivot quickly to meet scientific needs.
This is the moment to act. GAFOS is working to make sure the invisible engine of biomedical discovery not only survives, but thrives.
Read the full survey results, see the ISMB 2025 poster, and add your voice to the growing global movement at globalallianceforopenscience.org. Because protecting the infrastructure of science means protecting the future of innovation – something we cannot afford to lose.