The President of Harvard University, Alan Garber warned in a weekend note than under proposed Financing of subsidies at national institutes of national institutes“The discovery of new braking treatments, the opportunities to form the next generation of scientific leaders would be reduced and the capacity of science and engineering of our nation would be seriously committed.”
Meanwhile, the Chant of the Umass Chan Medical School Michael F. Collins told his school community The new 15% indirect costs of all future and existing NIH grants “will permanently affect and perhaps definitely the North -American Biomedical Research Company”.
On Friday, the largest public funder for biomedical research in the world announced The “indirect costs” or general expenses would be reduced for institutions that received their aid from Monday. The change would save the federal government about $ 4 billion a year, according to NIH.
Hospitals, medical schools and universities immediately opposed the action, saying that indirect costs, usually classified as support for facilities and administration, are essential for their research work.
During the 2024 financial year, 219 Massachusetts organizations received approximately $ 3.46 billion in NIH funding to support 5,783 research projects, according to Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell de Massachusetts.
A sign for the Umass Chan Medical School with the Umass Memorial Medical Center in the background on August 23, 2023. (Noah R. bomb)
Since then, a federal judge granted a temporary restraint order about cuts after a coalition of 22 states Bands together and they sued MondayCO-LLC DE CAMPBELL.
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In announcing the litigation, Campbell called Massachusetts “the country’s medical research capital”. When a judge ruled in favor six hours later, he said that it was an initial victory “for each person and relative, with the science that saves the life funded by federal aid”.
Other demands have also been filed. The Massachusetts Technology Institute, the University of Brandeis and the Tufts University are Among more than a dozen institutions that demand nih and the Department of Health and Human Services, according to a Monday archival.
Harvard decrees nih cuts
At Harvard University, 69% of NIH grants were headed for administrative expenses or other costs. Proposed cuts would reduce up to 15%.
In a letter of February 9President Alan Garber detailed the difference between direct costs and indirect costs. People who carry out the research, as well as the material materials and equipment they use, are considered direct costs. Indirect costs can cover laboratory, heat and electricity facilities and people to administer the research.
“They are substantial and inevitable, especially because it can be very expensive to build, maintain and equip the space for research on the borders of knowledge,” Garber said on indirect costs.
“Critical” indirect costs to Umass Amherst
Campbell this week said that NIH funding at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is used for research that improves healthy aging and care for people living with Alzheimer’s illness and dementia.
Last week, before the announcement of the NIH, the state’s emblematic university hosted a campus listening session to address questions of researchers about the state of research with federally funding.
In a February 10 updateMike Malone, Vice -Rector for Research and Commitment, and Laura Vandenberg, an associate vice -chancellor for research and commitment, and the Vice President of Research, said: “Indirect costs are critical of the work we do as researchers.”
The University of Massachusetts Amherst: The emblematic campus of Commonwealth sign in Butterfield Terrace on August 3.Kalina Koracki
“At Umass and universities and research centers across the country, indirect costs are used to cover expenses related to the construction, operations and maintenance of our research facilities, the staff of the Research Administration , laboratory safety and dangerous waste management, computer and computer services, databases and databases and library resources and other expenses related to infrastructure, “wrote Malone and Vandenberg.
The university encouraged researchers to communicate if they receive unemployed work orders, scope change orders, or other messages from a funding agency.
“We know that these ads continue to invoke anxiety and concern between the campus community,” he read the school’s note. “We want to reiterate what we have shared in our listening session: despite these changes in politics and federal procedures, our commitment to our shared values and our mission as a research university are still unaltered.”
“Deep impact and protruding”
On his note on February 9 in the Umass Chan Medical School community, Collins exposed a “deep and protruding impact” on research organizations if NIH cuts occur.
15% of proposed CAP is about a quarter of the indirect costs rate that Umass Chan receives at present, a measure that “would decrease the pre -eminence of the research that is performed in universities and teaching hospitals in America,” said Collins .
Pointed out a concerted effort on the way for the American Medicine Association, Research! America And many university and patient defense groups “to stop this harmful decision”.
“Be sure that we are doing everything we can to protect our most vital and valuable public research mission and to try to avoid the negative impacts and interruption that this decision would have on our research company,” Collins wrote.