The U.S. presidential election of 2016 produced a dramatic and unexpected result, putting into office a candidate with no experience in public office and no track record on which to base expectations regarding future science policy and research funding in the United States. During the campaign, there was little discussion as to what a Trump presidency would mean for policy issues such as the funding of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation and the regulatory climate for gene and cell therapy. This has left many scientists in the field of gene therapy anxious and uncertain as to their future.

It is indeed perilous to offer conjecture as to the future in situations such as this one. Nonetheless, it may be worthwhile to consider those areas of policy in which Mr. Trump has expressed opinions. With the Republican Party holding majorities in both houses of the U.S. Congress, it seems likely that the Trump administration's overall policy agenda will be implemented in some form in the relatively near future and that such changes will have implications for the future of gene and cell therapy in the United States.