White House proposes new rules giving political appointees final approval of research grants These proposed Office of Management and Budget regulations would render the federal research grant review process opaque www.scientificamerican.com/article/whit...

Megathread about responding to new OMB grant funding rules (feel free to add/link more!) I was collecting these for me, but figured I'd round 'em up for everyone 🧪 What's the problem? arstechnica.com/science/2026... elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/summary-of...

And my own take on some of the key points in what OMB/Vought is trying to do here: "If you wanted to cripple science research and were disappointed that Congress continued to fund it, this is the sort of document you would produce."

• Submit a comment opposing the destruction of 🇺🇸 science; • Pressure every org, professional body, association, uni, etc. you are affiliated with to submit the strongest possible comment opposing this calamity (highest ROI move for most of us) • Make sure your electeds see those comments 🧪

Calling all Scientists! Research Administrators! Deans! Fans of Science! No one is coming to save us. Here is your assignment. I have written a step by step, easy to understand "how-to" document to help you comment on the proposed OMB rule. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/what-we-ne...

"The document itself is an odd grab-bag of micromanaging grant processes, assertion of presidential power, and airing of cultural grievances... Its lack of coherence, however, will not prevent it from causing staggering damage to the US scientific system." 👇 arstechnica.com/science/2026...

Wow, this will sink science in the US

Well. This is startling. “At least one of the NIH’s 27 institutes and centres has lost so many GMSs that it has asked early-career researchers, including postdocs and graduate students, who work in the NIH’s own labs to consider working temporarily as a GMS on a volunteer basis”

The staffing crunch is so severe that the NIMH has asked its intramural grad students and postdocs to volunteer in this admin capacity temporarily. Also: the institute's acting deputy director - the second in charge - is devoting half of her time to grants management.

NEW: A serious staffing shortage — of the Trump admin's own making — is delaying the agency's ability to send billions to universities around the country, leaving labs reeling in the meantime. “I thought we were at rock bottom”, a senior NIH official said. “We are below rock bottom now.”

To cope with the lack of staff, institutes like the NHGRI are using multi-year funding, giving approved projects their money upfront as a lump sum rather than annually. This helps the NIH use up its budget more quickly, but it also means that fewer overall researchers and labs receive funding.

🚨Exiting new preprint from Lerner Lab postdoc AJ Miller-Hansen examining the thalamus as a physiological driver of local, acetylcholine-dependent dopamine release! 🚨 DA-ACh interactions have been 🔥but what’s really going on in vivo? We think we have some answers. #neuroskyence🧪

Really pleased that this work with @dudman.bsky.social is now out in Neuron: A global dopaminergic learning rate enables adaptive foraging across many options

Our newest preprint shows sex specific effect of exercise on motor coordination and dopamine neuron excitability! This was actually really surprising to us.

Through March 31, the number of grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health is down by more than half compared with the same period last year, a Post analysis found. There are also fewer grants focused on women’s health, cancer and mental health, the analysis found. https://wapo.st/48dWJWX

Down 70% (!!!) from the before times. We've plateaued and it's only April. So, so many labs will close this year.

The Trump administration is just getting started. They told us their plans for science in Project 2025. We should believe them. Then we should stop them. Part of their plan is death by paperwork. (Ironically, a complaint they latched onto to seize power in the first place. As Mike Lauer said...

NIH is not okay. @nytimes.com highlights how grant-making & ability to obligate funding is at risk from staff shortages and time consuming screening processes designed to censor research to align with the administration's political ideology. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/22/s... Some highlights:

Setting the record straight to get an NIH grant, it is: 1) incredibly more competitive 2) more paperwork for arbitrary reasons 3) award amounts have STILL not kept up with inflation 4) also will be a shorter award because of how multi-year funding is implemented Sounds like the hunger games!

First up: F grants These support individual grad students and post-docs (and some college students). # of new grants issued through April 15 in FY2024 (the last “normal” year): 652 FY2025: 402 FY2026: 74

Very informative post from Elizabeth Ginexi about NIH grant delays. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/the-execut...

In a @fens.org article, based on an interview with @tvvde.bsky.social, neuroscientists Michelle Monje and Frank Winkler, the 2025 Brain Prize winners, made clear that animal research remains essential to their work. 🔗 www.eara.eu/news/brain-p... #AnimalResearch #Brain #BrainPrize #neuroscience #mice

Bhattacharya Appropriation Oversight Hearing drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2026/03/17/b...

this is an out-and-out lie multi-year funding doesn’t give ANYONE more money up-front the money simply sits in different account at NIH no one gets money sooner

This Russell Vought, trying to usurp the power of the purse. Congress and the people have made it abundantly clear that they want to fund science. But Vought keeps trying to steal those funds. www.science.org/content/arti...

Oh wow. I know people here have THOUGHTS. Write them up & submit!! I love that all essays have to be public before entering. This is exactly the type of conversation we need more of. (Also cash prizes + philanthropy is listening) Now which on my list should I pick 🤔? astera.org/essay-compet...

This is the work of 2-5 people, full time, for five years. Work that is trying to increase knowledge of the world, of human health and trying to create a healthier population. Which we somehow can’t afford. Because we need to kill hundreds of people in far off lands for reasons that are false.

This is because of Vought's multi year funding mandate, which wastes government money by having it sit dormant for years instead of being used for science. Its the opposite of efficiency. They are using the same amount of money to fund less science.

The data is in: the NIH goalposts have shifted. What were once almost certain fundable scores have become coin flips and what used to be likely grants have become aspirational, leading to fewer awards. Another manifestation of how HHS policies have led to fewer awards and less science.

The impact is already hitting science agencies hard. The NIH—the world's largest public biomedical research funder—has had to rely on leftover stopgap funds. New grant awards have slowed to a trickle — exacerbating the effects of a record-long shutdown in October. (h/t @jeremymberg.bsky.social)

Congress rejected massive cuts to US science budgets for 2026, but much of the money still isn’t flowing to researchers. The culprit? The White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is quietly slow-walking the release of funds. 🧵👇

New and Competitive Renewals Only 803 grants have been made compared to ~2650 in fiscal years 2023 and 2024 through February 20. All institutes and centers (include OD now) have made awards except NIAAA, NLM, NCCIH, and FIC. 3/4

New and competitive renewal awards. The number of awards is 569 compared with more than 2200 through the same date in earlier fiscal years. All ICs have now made awards except for NIAAA, NCCIH, NLM, FIC, and OD. NEI (Eye Institute) made its first award during the new period. 3/4

Excited to share our new findings on how chronic nicotine changes dopaminergic and cholinergic neural activity!

And another institute director... She had only been in place for 1 5-year term but no renewal. The dismantling of the NIH leadership is painful to watch especially with the lack of clear process for replacing them and the history of hiring cronies.

Watching the systematic dismantling of the world's largest funder of biomedical research is heartbreaking and infuriating

Looking forward to it!

My (now) weekly update on 2026 NIH funding. New and competitive renewal awards. 3 new awards (compared to ~100 expected based on recent years). No new ICs... still just NIA, NINDS, NIDCD, and NIDCR. 1/2

🧪IMPORTANT! This graphic explains how science all over the US is funded. Congress approved a 2% increase in the #NIH budget for FY 26. Buried in the bill- Shift of ~40% of grants to MYF. This will still result in a 35% DECREASE in the NUMBER of grants funded per yr. Russel Vought is behind this.

Dear Congresswoman @foushee.house.gov, the multi year funding (MYF) in the HHS/NIH bill is normed to 2025 - please propose an amendment to norm to 2024, like the Senate version. As it stands, ~1/4-1/3 of NIH $ will be sequestered by MYF, a big cut to the Triangle's STEM economy!

Multi-year funding is a dirty trick by #RussellVought. This way the #Trump administration can say they're spending what Congress appropriated for research, BUT they'll only fund 1/5 the number of grants. Call your Senators/Reps now. Science hangs in the balance. H/T @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social

A reminder as Congress finalizes NIH appropriations: the bill must limit multiyear funding (MYF), Vought's way of cutting the NIH budget without cutting the budget. MYF will devastate the research workforce. @safa-science.bsky.social wrote this in July. Still relevant: substack.com/@scienceandf...

Likewise, Congressman Cole from Oklahoma is the chair of the overall House Appropriations committee. If you can, reach out to his office as well. It is noteworthy that OMB is willing to veto a bill over a minor-seeming NIH operational issue. This makes me think this is part of a bigger plan...

Congressman Aderholt from Alabama is the chair and he is apparently willing to help OMB here, adding report language (which is toothless) rather than including this in the law. If you are from Alabama, please contact his office and your Senators and share your thoughts. 2/3

The appropriations bill that includes NIH is being finalized. The Senate bill includes a bipartisan amendment from Senators Capito (WV) and Baldwin (WI) limiting multi-year funding of grants. The House version does not and OMB has issued a veto threat if the House includes such language. 1/3

ScienceInsider: Firing of neuroscience institute chief Walter Koroshetz adds to NIH’s leadership vacuum by @jocelynkaiser.bsky.social bit.ly/490XPWR @science.org

More news (not good) from NIH The renewal request from National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke Director Walter Koroshetz has been denied. I guess the NIH_leadership™ needed another position to fill with their time-tested recruitment process.

My first funding curve post for Fiscal Year 2026 FY2026 is off to a slow start. Some of this is due to the government shut down, but some of it is likely due to the new process for "remediating" applications that are deemed not to align with "agency priorities".

These are ALL renewal awards (with a few supplements). No new or competitive renewal awards!