The famed Framingham Heart Study, the longest-running cardiovascular disease clinical trial in the U.S., faces layoffs and closures as its annual budget drops from $9 million to $4 million amid federal sequestration.

The famed Framingham Heart Study lost 40% of its budget to sequestration, which means layoffs and closures are on the way for the nation’s longest-running cardiovascular disease trial.

The study lost $4 million of its annual $9 million budget thanks to automatic funding cuts that took effect amid federal sequestration, TheHeart.org reported. The next level of contractual funding for the study will go from a 7-year deal to just 2 years, and there will be no funding for examinations.