Name: A Harvard research labs remarkable gift from a 6-year-old girl
Uploaded: 2025-11-09T23:34:56.961Z
Duration: 2 min 34 s
Description: When 90% of funding was cut to a Harvard medical research lab studying the regenerative qualities of salamanders, six-year-old Marianne Cullen, of Springfield, Mass., a fan of salamanders, stepped up to help.

When 90% of funding was cut to a Harvard medical research lab studying the regenerative qualities of salamanders, six-year-old Marianne Cullen, of Springfield, Mass., a fan of salamanders, stepped up to help.

Harvard

A Harvard University research team led by Professor Jessica Whited, focused on the regenerative abilities of axolotls, faced significant challenges after losing most of its government funding. The lab's morale was lifted when six-year-old Marianne Cullen from Springfield, Massachusetts, organized a fundraiser and donated $1,000 to support their work.

Marianne, passionate about axolotl conservation, created a PowerPoint presentation and rallied support for the endangered species. Although the lab's funding has since been reinstated, Professor Whited emphasized that Marianne's contribution and encouragement will have a lasting impact on the team.

A Harvard research lab's remarkable gift from a 6-year-old girl

Steve Hartman this weekend reminds us that in the darkest of times it sometimes takes a child to help us see the light. Why do you think that that would matter for humans? Professor Jessica Whited leads a team of researchers at Harvard University all studying the axolotl, that's salamander with a superpower to regrow body parts. And we want to find out the secrets like the actual molecular secrets of how they regenerate limbs. So that people could regrow limbs? That is the hope someday, yep. A hope that faded a few months ago when her team lost almost all its government funding. It was dark times until the day a donor stepped forward. It definitely had a positive effect on every everyone in the lab. Everybody was just flabbergasted. Flabbergasted not by the size of the donation, but rather the size of the donor. Six-year-old Marianne Cullen of Springfield, Massachusetts is obsessed with axolotls. There's more to them than just being cute. They can grow back any limb. And she says they're endangered. And there's way other animals that need saving. This one is my destiny to save. Parents Kat and Rob Cullen. And I think she took it kind of to the next level honestly. She said I want to raise money for axolotls. So to support conservation and research, Marianne built a PowerPoint and held a fundraiser, made a thousand dollars for the lab. But why is all this your responsibility? Not a lot of people get how important it is to save this animal. And therefore you have to take the lead. I feel like I do. The courts have since reinstated the lab's funding. No telling if that will stand. But regardless, Professor Whited says Marianne's contribution will always keep her going. Sometimes you know who's fighting for you in life and sometimes you don't. And that's always the time when you're just like pause and be like wow. So there's a bone in here right? And certainly in the world of axolotl research, that kind of encouragement is worth an arm and another arm. Eventually it goes back and gets the whole thing.

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