Erica Rodriguez, PhD

Trump Administration Puts New Chokehold on Billions in Health-Research Funding The National Institutes of Health can’t award grants to outside researchers under a new White House restriction.

The NIH can’t award ANY grants to outside researchers under new WH restriction, reports @wsj.com.

The pause came in the form of a footnote from OMB Director Vought, in a document that doles out federal funds to the NIH.

Prelude to rescissions, especially after his comments over the weekend?

On Thursday, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to grant them a stay on the Massachusetts vs Kennedy/ APHA vs NIH ruling. This decision will occur on the shadow docket, with no formal hearing.

👇👇👇👇

Public comment on this new "no animal only studies" is open here:

www.fda.gov/news-events/...

It closes next Monday.

NIH announces end to funding for animal-only studies - Drug Discovery and Development Drug Discovery and Development covers strategies and technologies related to pharmaceutical research and development and drug formulation.

The end of biomedical sciences has finally arrived: NIH announces end to funding for animal-only studies www.drugdiscoverytrends.com/nih-announce...

The full ruling explaining why NIH grant cuts are illegal came out today.

It's just as blistering as the judge's oral remarks. And it uncovers fresh details in DOGE's role orchestrating the cuts — and on the cuts at Columbia.

Here are my top highlights from the 103-page ruling. 🧵

Sometimes you don’t realize the full burden you’ve been carrying –of being implicitly treated as a second-class citizen whose life isn’t worth preserving, of people working to fix health inequalities in this country being persecuted, of the crushing *silence* around it – until someone calls it out.

An NIH staffer reacts to today's ruling:
"I'm looking forward to the day that we are so slammed with work trying to reinstate everything that we had to terminate illegally — I'll work 24/7 to make that happen if I can."

BREAKING: A federal judge reversed National Institutes of Health's terminations of hundreds of critical research grants that were canceled because of their alleged connection to disfavored topics, including diversity, equity, inclusion, and gender identity.

This is a major win for public health.

On terminated DEI-related grants, including mine. We are taking a step in the right direction here.

Judge Young says he expects that the government will quickly comply with his order in this case.

To clarify: he's vacating the grant terminations at issue. And wants the money to start flowing ASAP.

Of note: the universe of grants "at issue" in this case is in dispute and will be litigated further

⚖️ HUGE day today in the NIH terminations cases

There's a trial (of sorts) at 10a ET in Boston today for arguments that NIH unlawfully terminated 100s of grants.

It's a 3 hour hearing and I'll post periodic updates.

Of note: this is the 1st lawsuit filed against the Trump Admin to go to trial.

Some of us MOSAIC scholars (myself included) still haven't even received our official grant termination... These games they're playing with us, & now, "you have the opportunity to write another grant instead of finishing the research work/writing the paper that will get you hired". Thin gruel indeed

Especially since most of us probably don't meet the eligibility requirements for these K's anymore. 🫠 And also the fact that we may not even get awarded on these second applications..........

note that 7 out of 10 listed here are training mechanisms

Judge comments: “Are you meaning to tell me the NIH policy is now homogeneity, inequity, and exclusion?” 👀

My thought when, in the wake of mass grant cancellations, administrators said it's important that we continue applying for grants (including from the very agencies canceling them).

Erica Rodriguez, PhD

What’s at stake when scientific research funds are cut? Our own @ericarodriguez.bsky.social talks about the grant canceled for her work on social behaviors (with autism and schizophrenia ties) and the impact on her career.
@gothamist.com
tinyurl.com/yc34c64b

"Women are PIs on 58% of the canceled grants, although they are PIs on only 34% of all active NSF grants.

Similarly, Blacks are PIs on 17% of the terminated grants, although they make only 4% of the total pool. Hispanic PIs and those with disabilities were twice as likely to lose a grant."

Trump’s ‘fear factor’: Scientists go silent as funding cuts escalate Many worry about retribution. But for others, speaking out is worth the risk

"Scientists might also be realizing that there’s little safety in silence."
#SpeakOut

www.science.org/content/arti...

Judge Young:

A couple requests going forward:
- Please provide a list of grants actually affected (I HAVE THIS!!!)

- To HHS lawyer, "I understand gov't is against DEI. But this is about healthcare for all Americans. "Respectfully, I just don't know what [DEI] means" here. I need a definition.

A US judge to govt lawyers defending the NIH's grant terminations:

"I understand the administration is against DEI. Respectfully, I just don't know what you mean. This isn't a teasing question. There has to be some working definition.

This is research to advance healthcare for all our citizens."

All, if you've had your federally-funded research disrupted due to the admin's chaos, consider this funding opportunity from Robert Wood Johnson:

Rapid Response Research

Rapid Response Research awards are exclusively available to applicants who have already received federal funding... 🧪🧵

Unlawful grant terminations are harming young scientists and threatening innovation. ASCB joins leaders calling for immediate funding restoration.

www.ascb.org/society-news...

Encouraging to see this show of force and solidarity from the societies that support the development of MOSAIC scholars

It is discrimination at it's finest.

This program's termination along with terminations of other programs (MARC U-STAR, RISE, PREP, diversity F awards, etc...) that award scientists who perform merited science will set back generations of scientists from marginalized backgrounds. 4/n

As a diversity grant dies, young scientists fear it will haunt their careers The Trump administration defunded the National Institute of Health's MOSAIC grant program, which launched the careers of scientists from diverse backgrounds.

A group of scholars and I had a chance to share our experiences with the MOSAIC program being terminated 🧪

www.npr.org/sections/sho...

And while our K99s are being terminated, the parent K99s are not, and this is intentionally disproportionally affecting scientists from and who support diverse backgrounds. This, to me, is a form of discrimination. 3/n

Our K99s were reviewed with parent k99s in the same study sections, and graded the same way, with the additional grading on service impact. What this means is that getting the MOSAIC K99 is just as competitive, if not more, than the parent K99. 2/n