People with experimental brain implants often turn to the treatment as a last resort, hoping to improve their health when everything else has failed. However, there’s no guarantee the devices will be maintained after the clinical trials finish, and no mechanism requiring companies to do so. A Harvard University research project aimed to change that by creating partnerships between players in the implant field to overcome barriers to follow-up care. But the cancellation of hundreds of National Institutes of Health grants by the Trump administration left the project in limbo, leaving some former trial participants worried about the lives and health of people benefiting from the devices.