Podcast: Advocating for science and funding for discoveries

Jade Fachin is passionate about being a science advocate, science communicator and scientist.

As a doctoral student in UCLA's molecular, cellular and integrative physiology interdepartmental program, she also conducts research in Lydia Daboussi's lab, which studies the peripheral nervous system. In lab, Fachi experienced the 2025 federal research funding freezes firsthand, witnessing how the sudden loss of support can impose not only financial constraints but intellectual ones as well.

In the latest episode of "Science Interrupted," a special series from the UCLA College's "Tell Us What You Know" podcast, Fachin reflects on the implications of her research, shares the tale of how a broken lab freezer became an unexpected moment of solidarity and details the opportunities that have shaped her commitment to championing science.

An active member of several groups and initiatives - including the Science Policy Group at UCLA, the UC Graduate and Professional Council and the UC Advocacy Network - Fachin has brought her advocacy directly to policymakers. She spoke before the California State Assembly Select Committee on Biotechnology and Medical Technology last August.

When Fachin addressed the committee, she underscored what is at stake - not only for researchers, but for the broader public who ultimately benefit from scientific discovery.

"We need to keep my colleagues and me in the game in the long run," Fachin said, "so that experiments that we conduct can become diagnoses and therapies that Californians and the nation deserve."