The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard lays off 75 employees
The layoffs are a result of a reduced budget due to NIH research funding cuts
Colin Clark -- The Tech
On June 26, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Director Todd Golub announced in an email to the Broad community that the Institute laid off 75 employees because of anticipated federal research funding cuts. Of the laid-off employees, 53 held administrative roles, and 22 worked in the Data Science Platform (DSP) or the Center for the Development of Therapeutics (CDoT).
The DSP is a technology group that develops data science applications for biomedical research, while the CDoT is a center focused on drug discovery and therapeutics research. Previously, in October 2024, 87 Broad Institute employees were laid off, 75 of whom were in the DSP. 16 CDoT employees were laid off in May 2024.
“We approached this process with utmost concern for those affected,” Senior Media Relations Manager Karen Zusi-Tran wrote in a statement to The Tech. “Each of these individuals has made important contributions to Broad, and we are making professional outplacement services available to help position each of them for the next stage of their career.”
The layoffs were announced at the Broad Institute community update meeting on March 25. In the meeting, Golub stated that the NIH’s proposed 15% indirect cost cap could lead to a loss of $50 million in research funding. To make up for these cuts, the Institute is reducing personnel and non-personnel costs across various areas, which includes staff reductions. According to Zusi-Tran, the 75 laid-off positions reduced the Institute’s workforce by less than 4%.
In his email, Golub stated that the Institute tried to maximize savings in non-personnel costs to minimize the number of layoffs. In particular, the Institute slashed the food and planned events budget, downsized the annual scientific retreat, and reduced the parking subsidy, among other benefit cuts.
To reduce personnel expenditures, the Broad has limited or frozen salary increases. Altogether, the cost reductions add up to around $42 million, which is approximately 5% of the annual budget. Golub stated that the executive leadership team does not anticipate more layoffs unless future circumstances become “considerably worse” than expected.
“Broad is now slightly smaller, but our aspiration remains unchanged: to continue to be the flexible, nimble, and catalytic force that the larger biomedical research community relies on,” Golub wrote.