Researchers across the country have found their work in limbo
Marketplace Morning Report
Marketplace
4.5 • 927 Ratings
🗓️ 27 January 2025
⏱️ 7 minutes
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Summary
Research scientists who get funding from the National Institutes of Health — the biggest funder of biomedical research in the world — have had key meetings about their grants canceled recently. There’s little clarity on why and whether it’s a temporary pause or something bigger. We’ll hear more. Also, we’ll be joined by Artis Stevens, President and CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, to learn about the economic payoff of mentorship.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Researchers across the country have suddenly found their work in limbo. |
| 0:06.8 | From Marketplace, I'm Sabri Beneshore in for David Brancaccio. |
| 0:10.2 | Research scientists who get funding from the National Institutes of Health have had meetings about their grants canceled. |
| 0:15.9 | This is happening at the same time as a ban on all external communication by the NIH and other agencies within health and |
| 0:21.3 | human services through February 1st. The NIH is the biggest funder of biomedical research in |
| 0:27.4 | the world. And there is little clarity on why meetings are being canceled and whether it's just a |
| 0:32.6 | temporary pause or something bigger. Marketplaces Samantha Fields has more. |
| 0:41.7 | This Thursday, Gregory Decker was supposed to be going to a meeting where he and a bunch of other scientists would review grant applications for NIH funding. But last week, he got an email. |
| 0:47.4 | Kind of a little cryptically saying that it was canceled. |
| 0:50.8 | Ducker is an assistant professor of biochemistry at the University of Utah, where he does NIH-funded research of his own. |
| 0:57.0 | He says lots of scientists have had upcoming grant reviews canceled, and there's been no communication from the NIH about why or when they might be rescheduled. |
| 1:05.1 | People are anxious because the research is very dependent upon having funding renewed so that you can continue the studies. |
| 1:12.9 | It's not just grant review meetings. |
| 1:15.0 | Rebecca Pompano, a professor of chemistry and biomedical engineering at the University of Virginia, |
| 1:19.8 | was supposed to go to a training last week to be a grant reviewer, but it was canceled, too. |
| 1:24.8 | 20 minutes before it was supposed to start? |
| 1:27.2 | Without that training, she and others won't be able to review NIH funding applications. |
| 1:32.0 | And even if all of this is just temporary and everything is rescheduled soon, |
| 1:36.3 | even a delay of a month or several months in funding could make the difference between a scientist being able to stay working on a particular |
| 1:47.6 | research project or having to leave to get a different job somewhere else. And so you would lose |
| 1:52.2 | that ability to pick up the research again. Even if the grant eventually comes through. I'm Samantha Fields for Marketplace. |
| 2:20.1 | Hi, this is Emily from Paxton, Nebraska. |
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