NIH freezes rock the research world

NIH reviews, travel and communications have been frozen until 2 February at least. How has the scientific community responded?

On day three of Trump’s presidency, the administration imposed a wide range of restrictions on the National Institutes of Health (NIH; MD, USA), including cancelling research-grant reviews, travel, training, meetings and communications. Webpages concerning diversity programs and grants have also disappeared.

The NIH has a budget of US$47 billion, awarding grants for biomedical research across the US and beyond. NIH grants are typically approved after rigorous evaluations by two independent review panels referred to as ‘study sections’ and ‘advisory councils’. The meeting freeze has halted these reviews until at least 2 February, although no date has been indicated for their resumption. Without the reviews, the NIH cannot issue grants, effectively freezing their budget.

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The jeopardy has been keenly felt by early career researchers, who depend on timely funding for their research projects.

Those supporting the ban suggest it is necessary to help restructure and streamline the review process, with some highlighting the wasted time and effort put into the thousands of rejected grant applications. By and large, however, the scientific community has responded with concerns to the freeze, highlighting the fact that small delays in funding to ongoing research could cause severe setbacks for long-term research projects while stifling innovation in new projects.

Speaking to Nature, former NIH director Harold Varmus (Weill Cornell Medicine, NY, USA)  highlighted that the extent of the freeze goes beyond the typical hold on communications that may come with an administration change. Varmus went so far as to say that the “will of Congress will be challenged if we don’t change what is going on,” as the NIH receives its budget directly from the US Congress.

Have you been impacted by the freezes? Email us at [email protected] to share your story.