South Dakota tribes seek restoration of funding for Eagle Butte genetics lab
Five South Dakota tribes are asking Congress to restore funding for a tribal data repository project led by the Native BioData Consortium in Eagle Butte, according to reporting by South Dakota Searchlight.
The lab was the primary recipient of a $7 million federal grant for the Data for Indigenous Implementations, Interventions, and Innovations Tribal Data Repository project, funded by the National Institutes of Health. The funding ended in March after the agency halted COVID-19 research.
In letters to U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, tribal leaders called the cut “collateral damage in a blanket cut to all COVID-19 research” and said the repository would protect tribal communities in future health crises. Consortium director Joseph Yracheta told South Dakota Searchlight the project would allow tribes to store and share genetic data securely and on their own terms.
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