Uncertainty swirling for university researchers impacted by proposed NIH cuts

Democrats and university officials say uncertainty is the hallmark of proposed cuts to the National Institutes of Health, but they fear the move could cost the region thousands of jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars.

About 21,000 jobs are supported by NIH funding in the state, according to figures cited by U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel.

Last year, the state received $2.2 billion in funding from the agency to conduct biomedical research, with the University of Pittsburgh collecting $632 million of that. Another $38 million went to Carnegie Mellon University.

“This is one of those things that we need to penetrate into the public consciousness,” said U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale. “In Pennsylvania, NIH funding is massive.”

The comments were made Monday during a roundtable discussion of the cuts hosting by the United Steelworkers Union, which represents a growing number of healthcare-related workers. No Republican lawmakers took part in the meeting.

President Donald Trump, though so far stymied by federal judges, wants to cut NIH funding and impose a 15% cap on the amount of federal research funding that can be used to cover overhead expenses like utilities, equipment and support staff.

Courts have temporarily blocked his plan to freeze NIH funding and strip research groups of hundreds of millions of dollars for the so-called indirect expenses of studying things like Alzheimer’s, cancer and other deadly illnesses.

The administration essentially circumvented the court orders, though, by stopping the NIH from posting any new notices in the Federal Register, a requirement for many of the meetings required to award grants. That has since been relaxed to a partial ban, restarting the initial stages of grant applications for the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research.

University of Pittsburgh researchers say they have little clarity on what might get funded, or even when money awarded to them under the Biden administration might be released. Doctoral admissions at the university were briefly paused last month, displaying how uncertainty around the NIH is reverberating throughout local research institutions.

“What we’re seeing now is an attack on an entire generation of science,” said Alisa Omelchenko, a graduate worker in Pitt’s immunology department.

For Pittsburgh, Lee likened the consequences of a hamstrung NIH to the local steel industry’s collapse in the 1980s.

Republicans representing the state, which Trump carried narrowly last year, will likely find themselves in the crosshairs of any pushback to weakened research funding.

“I think one of the pressure points we can have is the understanding that Pennsylvania is not a deep red state,” Lee said.

Sen. Dave McCormick’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.

Republican Dave Sunday, who took office as state attorney general this year, could also see some attention as his federal peer plays an elevated role under the Trump presidency.

A coalition of 22 attorneys general — all Democrats — were behind one of the legal challenges that paused the administration’s NIH initiative.

Sunday’s office did not immediately return a request for comment, either.

Despite scoring some temporary and limited relief in the courts, lean times could be ahead for faculty and staff at local universities.

The indirect cost requirement alone could take away $200 million in expected funding to CMU and Pitt, which has warned this could obstruct or even kill off a significant amount of research, putting jobs and medical advances in jeopardy.

“The feel on my floor at the university is very somber and uncertain,” said Nicole Hays, a research operations manager at Pitt. “Nobody really knows what’s going to happen.”