Rebecca Whelan, an associate professor at KU, made a major advancement this month toward early detection of ovarian cancer. But the funding she used for the project could now be at risk.
Whelan’s cancer research is one piece of the millions of dollars Kansas could lose in federal research grants because of a new order from the National Institutes of Health.
Researchers at KU said losing federal funds could decimate their ability to make groundbreaking discoveries.
The NIH last week said it would lower the amount research institutions can request for a project’s “indirect costs,” also known as facilities and administrative costs. These expenses include staffing, building maintenance, lab operations and more.
The cut would cap the percentage of funds attributed to these administrative costs at 15% of a project’s funding, which would mean a total of about $4 billion less flowing to major research institutions across the country, including KU and the KU Medical Center.
Whelan said institutions like KU rely on indirect costs not just to keep the lights on, but also to support shared equipment, compliance with ethical guidelines and accurate reporting of results.
KU and the KU Medical Center have received more than $160 million in NIH grants the last few years, according to NIH data. Many of those grants have indirect costs of more than 30%. Cutting the rate to 15% would mean thousands of dollars less in funding.
Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, a spokesperson for KU, did not respond to multiple emails requesting comment for this story. Kay Hawes, a spokesperson for the University of Kansas Medical Center, declined to comment.
The cuts are part of a flurry of early moves by the Trump administration aimed at gutting federal spending. Organizations that rely on federal grants were thrown into chaos at the end of January when a memo from the federal Office of Management and Budget announced a freeze for all federal grant, loan and financial assistance programs. The order was then quickly challenged in court, but much funding remains frozen.
Just days later, the NIH announced its cuts to research grants. A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily halted the NIH cuts in response to a lawsuit from university associations and major research centers.
‘It’s confusing’
Brian Ackley, a professor at KU, regularly uses NIH grants to do research using genetic models to help understand fundamental biological mechanisms.
He said the uncertainty of the cuts is creating a lot of anxiety. Despite courts ordering the Trump administration to halt its funding freeze, a large amount of federal cash still isn’t flowing down the pipeline. That has researchers worried about when federal grant money will arrive, or if it will at all.
“I think that there’s just a lot of uncertainty in terms of, like, how to deal with these things,” Ackley said. “Because the information is very slow in being released. It’s confusing.”
Whelan said she thinks the cuts could lead to some staff who support researchers losing their jobs. She also said the cuts could lead to a spike in student tuition, as KU looks to replace the mass amount of lost federal funds.
“The KU campuses are major recipients of this funding, and there’s no clear indication of a source that could replace these funds,” Whelan said.
Ackley pointed out that research funding is under attack in many ways right now, including federal pushback to diversity, equity and inclusion programs, which Ackley said have been integral in advancing scientific discoveries in areas that have often been underresearched, such as women’s health.
He said government research funding often comes under scrutiny because it doesn’t always produce immediate results. But, Ackley said, that is part of its value. Whereas research corporations have to focus on profits, government-funded research can offer a chance to be patient and wait for bigger-picture developments.
He gave the COVID-19 vaccine as an example. When the pandemic struck in 2020, most researchers assumed a vaccine was at least five years away. But thanks to decades of research funded with government grants, a vaccine was produced in mere months. It was an example of research from all corners of the country over the course of years being pooled together to help solve a crisis.
“I think that when we think about the scientific enterprise as this very large, very diffuse entity, there are occasions where all this comes together,” he said. And if you ask me — and maybe I’m a biased observer here — isn’t it all worth it for that?”
‘Impossible to measure the devastation’
Ackley said the short-term impact of the cuts could alter depending on where the cut funds go. If they are repurposed into new grants, that would dampen some of the harm. But if the money leaves the industry altogether, he said it would be “impossible to measure the devastation.”
He thinks more complex research would be the first to be hit because it is the most expensive. But much of that research also happens to be the most crucial.
Whelan said research has advanced the understanding of crucial medical and technological innovation.
“Research saves lives. That has been demonstrated many times,” Whelan said. “Since the Cold War, the U.S. has been a scientific leader in the world, but this status did not happen by accident. It happened because of federal programming, support and investment. In the long-term, I fear the U.S. will lose its place as the scientific leader in the world.”
Especially for KU, one challenge with decreased funding would be an inability to train the next generation of scientists at the same level, Ackley said. It could force many people who can’t afford to work in labs for free to shift to other careers.
”There will be people who will leave the scientific enterprise,” he said. “There will be people who are going to just not be able to do the work. It will slow, delay and possibly prevent us from having cures for things in the future.”
KU is a member of the Association of American Universities, a group of top research universities. KU Chancellor Douglas Girod currently serves as vice chair of the AAU’s board of directors. A request to speak with Girod went unanswered by Barcomb-Peterson, the KU spokesperson.
AAU President Barbara R. Snyder released a statement decrying the NIH cuts.
“Facilities and Administrative (F&A) costs – also referred to as ‘indirect costs’ – are real and necessary costs of conducting the groundbreaking research that has led to countless breakthroughs in the past decades,” she said. “A cut to F&A reimbursements for NIH grants is quite simply a cut to the life-saving medical research that helps countless American families.”
Ackley said he hopes people recognize the value of federally funded research. He said the return on investment is high, with billions of dollars worth of economic value provided by research.
“Just one of those things, one of those grants, could enable a multibillion-dollar corporation or a multibillion-dollar cure,” he said.
Whelan said she’s committed to continuing to do her job the best she can. It’s a job she loves, getting to train the next generation of scholars and scientists. She said many of her colleagues have contacted their representatives to share concerns.
“I work with others in my research team to advance knowledge in ways that will ultimately save lives,” she said. “My team and I view this work as critical and deserving of our committed, best effort.”
A handful of other researchers at KU either did not respond to requests for interviews or deferred requests to Barcomb-Peterson.
If our local journalism matters to you, please help us keep doing this work.
Don’t miss a beat … Click here to sign up for our email newsletters
Click here to learn more about our newsletters first
Cuyler Dunn (he/him), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since April 2022, is a student at the University of Kansas School of Journalism. He is a graduate of Lawrence High School where he was the editor-in-chief of the school’s newspaper, The Budget, and was named the 2022 Kansas High School Journalist of the Year. Read his complete bio here. Read more of his work for the Times here.
Latest Lawrence news:
Nathan Kramer / Lawrence Times
Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
