Fluctuations in research grant funding make long-term planning difficult
By Grace McIntyre, Adirondack Daily Enterprise Staff Writer
SARANAC LAKE — Trudeau Institute CEO Bill Reiley had some discouraging news Wednesday night. He found out that funding obtained by North Country Rep. Elise Stefanik on their behalf was not included in the legislation recently passed in the House.
”We were really hoping on some of these dollars from the federal government,” he said.
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The institute was selected by Congresswoman Elise Stefanik to receive money during this fiscal year through the Community Project Fund, where Congress members can nominate projects in their district to receive federal funding. The Trudeau Institute hoped to use these funds to work on a few infrastructure projects and buy new equipment to help them remain on the ”cutting edge” of infectious disease research.
This comes as local researchers are grappling with constant uncertainty around the availability of federal funding. Most grants do not seem to be in immediate danger, but researchers say it has still been hard to plan for the future. Reiley said the situation has been changing nearly every week since President Donald Trump took office.
”Currently there’s an uncertainty swirling with everything as it relates towards our business,” Reiley said. ”You can’t remember what happened last week, to what’s happening this week, to what’s happening next week.”
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The Trudeau Institute traces its roots to the tuberculosis sanatorium established by Dr. Edward Livingston Trudeau, which opened in the late 19th century. Trudeau’s grandson transitioned the facility to a research focus, which has continued in its current form since 2016. Broadly, the Trudeau Institute studies immune responses to tuberculosis, influenza and Zika, along with other issues related to the immune system.
A portion of the institute’s funding comes from National Institute of Health grants. Currently, they have three direct grants from the NIH. They also have several research partners with NIH grants.
These are peer-reviewed and based on available funding and priorities of the NIH. These grants usually contain two types of funding. Direct funding goes towards costs associated directly with the project the NIH has agreed to fund. The indirect rate goes towards costs that can’t be directly attributed to any specific project — things like salaries of lab technicians, specialized software, printer paper and ink, cleaning services for office and lab spaces and practically everything else that keeps a lab running.
On Feb. 7 the NIH, which falls under the Department of Health and Human Services, announced that grants would receive an indirect cost rate of 15%. Reiley said smaller research institutions like Trudeau tend to have higher indirect rates, which are normally negotiated periodically with the NIH. These tend to range between 40 and 60% for NIH grants, so the lower rate cuts the payments for indirect costs by more than half.
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This action by the NIH has currently been reversed by court orders, but it’s hard for people like Reiley to predict when this guidance might resume. In the meantime, it is very challenging to adjust to a dramatic funding cut, or the threat of one, in the middle of projects and budget years.
Other delays
HHS also paused peer-review sessions for ongoing grants for about a month. The grant process already takes a year or more, so a pause like this throws off the timing of the whole process, Reiley said. This action was also reversed, but then another delay popped up.
As a part of the process to obtain federal funds, groups of reviewers called ”study sections” have to meet to review grant proposals. There are also advisory councils that guide funding decisions after proposals are evaluated. Both groups are required by law to submit public notices of their meetings.
The Transmitter, a neuroscience news site, reported on Feb. 18 that there was an ongoing hold on submissions to the Federal Register, where public notices about meetings are required to be posted. This effectively paused the long review process that researchers go through en route to obtaining grant funding. An update to the Transmitter story on Feb. 26 reported that at least some public notice submissions were being accepted again.
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Ongoing uncertainty
Ampersand Biosciences currently has one federal grant for a joint project with Trudeau Institute. The $1,084,824 grant is a second-phase Small Business Innovative Research grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of the NIH. The project is meant to be funded for two years and will help produce tools to study the influenza virus.
Ampersand Biosciences president Laurie Stephen said they have received no indication that this grant is in jeopardy. However, she said repeat clients at the NIH and other clients like universities seem to be holding off on putting in orders for their services and kits. Ampersand provides services like sample testing and products such as kits that other labs can then use in their research.
”Everybody’s a little uncertain,” Stephen said. ”We’re hopeful that the NIH comes back strong, but we’re just waiting to see.”
A spokesperson for Bionique Testing Laboratories, a third Saranac Lake-based research organization, said they were not impacted by the funding cuts.
Paul Smith’s College receives federal funding from six different programs. Their biggest source of federal funding is through the U.S. Department of Education through the Title IV program. This includes Pell Grants, loans and student support services, according to PSC president Dan Kelting.
On the research side, PSC has grants from the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Northern Border Regional Commission.
Kelting said that so far, they have not had any trouble getting reimbursements for any of their ongoing grants. However, the proposal to reduce indirect rates to 15% is also concerning for them. Their NSF grant is currently at a 54% rate. Even though these costs are ”indirect,” they are essential to being able to do the research work.
”We’d have to either find the money somewhere else, which would be difficult, or scale back the work,” Kelting said.
There’s also a lingering uncertainty about whether certain grant opportunities will continue to be available in the future. Obtaining these competitive grants is often a multi-year process, and the current situation makes it difficult to plan for the years ahead. PSC is not as reliant on federal funds as larger research schools with huge budgets, but any loss in grant opportunities will still be felt locally.
”The uncertainty comes from what it’s going to look like a year from now, versus today,” Kelting said. ”Are certain programs going to be around anymore, or are they not going to be around anymore?”
Similarly, the Trudeau Institute is better prepared for a situation like this than they would have been in the past, Reiley said. Historically, the institute relied heavily on NIH grants, but its new model is diversified, working with partners like companies, nonprofits, schools and the Department of Defense as a contract research institution.
Still, the week-to-week upheaval is impacting long-term planning.
”It’s almost like a yo-yo. You never know where you’re at,” Reiley said. ”It’s making it very difficult for us as an institution to be able to say, ‘This is our course, this is our plan, this is how we’re going to continue to do research.”’
Top photo: The Trudeau Institute in Saranac Lake, pictured Thursday, has been among the local research companies impacted by uncertainty surrounding federal grant funding. Adirondack Enterprise photo by Grace McIntyre.
This story originally appeared in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, the only daily newspaper in the Adirondack Park. Read more at adirondackdailyenterprise.com
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I personally am concerned with these moves. With that said I see no news coverage for the large group of individuals that are very happy to see what is going on. The coverage is very one-sided, I don’t think that is good for journalism. Everyone seems to have receded even farther into their respective echo chambers.
I agree about the coverage.
The federal government is going broke, something has to give. Deciding what gives is what elections are all about.