Federal funding delays are harming science irreparably, researchers say : NPR

Key Points:

• Harvard computational biologist Sean Eddy's lab was decimated after the Trump administration terminated his NIH funding in 2025, forcing him to lay off most of his team and halting his decade-long research on the origin of life and genomic analysis tools widely used in biomedical science.
• Despite a bipartisan restoration of NIH funding in early 2026, many scientists report that the money is not reaching researchers as expected, with fewer grants being awarded and significant delays in funding announcements, undermining trust in the agency’s reliability.
• Analysis shows NIH is issuing fewer new grants but with larger amounts over longer terms, resulting in fewer scientists receiving support, and many funding forecasts remain unfulfilled, creating an illusion of opportunity without actual funding availability.
• Cancer researcher Rachael Sirianni highlights the impact of these funding disruptions, explaining that critical pediatric cancer research is stalled due to delayed grant reviews, forcing layoffs and halting promising therapeutic development for diseases with few treatment options.
• NIH and Health and Human Services officials attribute funding delays to recent government shutdowns and congressional actions, but affected researchers like Eddy and Sirianni say the damage to their work and scientific progress may be irreparable.