Harvard University has joined the growing list of institutions targeted by the Trump administration for federal funding cuts.

Harvard University has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration claiming that its freezing of federal grants worth billions of dollars is unlawful. Its president, Alan M Garber, announced the action on Monday in a letter to the university community which said the $2bn funding freeze would hamper critical disease research.

The Trump administration is pausing more than 500 grants worth an additional $1 billion from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to Harvard University, senior HHS officials told the Daily Caller.