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.
Graph of award probability of R35 and R01 from NIH factbook as a function of review rank percentile. As is apparent, 2025 is a significant departure, with lower award probabilities at all scores <40 and significant departures from norm, where even being in the top 10% is no longer a nearly certain indicator of success. Data source: https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook/report/302
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.
It's because of Vought's multi year funding mandate which wastes government money by having it sit dormant for years rather than funding 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. 🧵👇
Line graph of the number new and competitive renewal grants funded by NIH in fiscal year 2026 through February 20, compared to fiscal years 2020-2025. The fiscal year 2026 is well below the other curves.
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
Those 1 pipette per cell days are amazing.
A line graph shown the number of NIH new and competitive awards funded for fiscal year 2026 (through 2/13/26) compared with fiscal years 2021-2025. The fiscal year 2026 is lagging well behind with only 569 awards made through 2/13/26 compared to >2000 for previous fiscal years.
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.
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We find that chronic nicotine, when administered to adult mice, decreases dopaminergic neuron spontaneous firing rate and rebound activity. These effects could protect the neurons by decreasing their metabolic load.
The reason for this is that nicotine's protective effects seem to be only preventative, in that it reduces the risk of developing Parkinson's, but doesn't have a therapeutic effect on symptoms or disease progression after diagnosis.
The goal here was to understand why nicotine can sometimes act in a neuroprotective way.
We tested the effects of chronic nicotine on two types of neurons that are known to degenerate in Parkinson's Disease, but tested the effects in healthy mice.
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!
A line grant showing new and competitive renewal awards made by NIH is fiscal year 2026 compared to 2021-2025. The line for fiscal year 2026 is very close to zero.
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.
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Graphic helps visualize how MYF funds FEWER grants despite the increase in budget approval by Congress. https://www.researchamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/ACT-for-NIH-Multi-Year-Funding-One-Pager_October-2025.pdf
🧪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.
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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
An email to NINDS staff from Walter Koroshetz announcing that his reappointment request has been denied.
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.
Funding curve for NIH for fiscal years 2015-2026 showing the fiscal year 2026 curve (in red) well below the fraction of the annual appropriation for previous years.
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!
My trainees absolutely need this, lol #sfn25
Posters H16 and K5
