Dr. Liz Kirby

BREAKING NEWS: a government watchdog confirmed the Trump administration is breaking the law by blocking NIH funds.
 
How many kids with cancer or grandmas with Alzheimer’s have to get closer to death while crucial research is stalled? 

Trump must end this illegal funding freeze.

What killed the competitive renewal at NIH? Following up on yesterday’s whinesplaining about the relative difficulty of getting a NIH grant across pertinent career eras, I had some more thoughts on generational expectations and gasligh…

What killed the competitive renewal at NIH? drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/07/31/w...

Screenshot of Senate Appripriations bill for NIH stating that 2017 indirect cost language is still in force

Saying that the previously language should apply

"Sec. 239. None of the funds appropriated by this Act may be used to increase the proportion of multi-year grants awarded by the National Institutes of Health in fiscal year 2026 that are fully funded in the first year of the award, relative to the comparable proportion in fiscal year 2024, unless the National Institutes of Health awards at least the same number of total grants in fiscal year 2026 as in fiscal year 2024."

Here's the provision to block multi-year funding:

(the bill text PDF will later be updated with this as an adopted amendment: www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/do...)

Senate appropriators approve Labor-HHS bill with NIH bump The vote and lawmaker comments show that most senators aren't going along with the White House's proposed 40% budget cut to NIH.

BIG NEWS:

“Senate appropriators on Thursday approved an FY26 Labor-HHS bill that included a slight bump in funding for the NIH, with a strong 26–3 bipartisan vote.”

Thank you to members of the Senate Appropriations Committee on both sides of the aisle!

www.axios.com/pro/health-c...

Explore how the brain ages with our aging mouse brain data on the Allen Brain Cell Atlas!

Explore the most comprehensive and detailed single-cell dataset of the aged and young adult mouse brain.

🧠📈 knowledge.brain-map.org/abcatlas#AQE...

"ChatGPT is great for brainstorming!"

Actually we have a tool for that already! It's called thinking. We use our brain. It's called brainstorming! Clue is in the name.

Senate committee endorses NIH budget increase, rebuking Trump administration’s proposed 40% cut Senators from both parties endorsed a $400 million increase to the budget of the National Institutes of Health on Thursday

Senate committee endorses NIH budget increase, rebuking Trump administration’s proposed 40% cut www.statnews.com/2025/07/31/n... via @statnews.com

Study shows AI's negative effects as Ohio State University requires students to use AI in classrooms Ohio State University did not study the impact artificial intelligence has on learning before launching its new plan. All undergraduate students, starting with the incoming freshman class, will be req...

love to see it /s www.wosu.org/2025-07-29/s...

a cartoon of a man and a dog with the words now 's the time for action written on the bottom ALT: a cartoon of a man and a dog with the words now 's the time for action written on the bottom

IMPORTANT UPDATE IMPORTANT UPDATE

Regarding APHU/ACLU et al. vs. NIH Lawsuit

No new NIH grants for the rest of the fiscal year, unless we all make some serious noise and stop this NOW.

To my colleagues who have been "staying out of it", time to get in. Seriously. Call your reps. Tell your neighbors. Keeping your head down is not working.

Odds of winning NIH grants plummet as new funding policy and spending delays bite Funding multiyear grants up front will sharply cut number of investigators receiving awards

New Science story about multi-year funding and it potential catastrophic consequences

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

1/n

The Anne West lab at Duke is hiring a postdoc to work on nuclear cell biology in neurogenesis. Please help me spread the word! Applications to west@neuro.duke.edu.

One of the best parts of being a scientist is that I get to hang out among nerds a lot and nerds often do super cool things just because they are cool, not to make money. It's great that Wikipedia has created a way to funnel that nerd energy into something incredibly useful for everyone.

Some journals are claiming that you need to pay big $$ for gold open access to comply with NIH's new public access policy. FYI that is total bs. You can comply by depositing the Accepted Manuscript into PubMed Central on the Date of Publication without embargo. Pass it on.

“With these considerations, we expect to fund through the 4th percentile.”

There it is, in black and white, the destruction of cancer research in the US.

"NIH has ..implemented a new policy requiring that at least one-half of the remaining funds for competing research project grants (RPGs) in FY 2025 be used to upfront fund RPG competing awards. Upfront funding provides the funding for all years of the approved project period .. from one fiscal year"

Talk about your grant lotteries. Earn a 4%ile for a chance at a four year award....or bupkis. whee.

Employees’ protests against Trump science policies spread to NSF Letter to key House Democrat follows declarations by scientists at NIH, EPA, and NASA

NSF's Alexandria Declaration takes the form of a letter to Congress

Science coverage

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

so.... NIH issued a news item clarifying the new use of animals policy.

It seems that the bottom line is that NIH will not issue NoFOs specifically about creation or use of animal models of disease.

1/2

grants.nih.gov/news-events/...

Photo of a sewer cover painted to look like a pepperoni pizza with a slice missing.

Street art spotted in Columbus this weekend. I suppose this is technically defacing public property, which is in general not good. But it brought me more joy than a planned art installment. Art is complicated, I guess. And a small surprise chuckle is needed nowadays.

Ireland launches global talent fund! www.researchireland.ie/funding/glob...
If you're a neuroscience professor (assistant/associate/full) and would consider relocating to the vibrant and booming city of Dublin, please get in touch!

Was just pointed to this newly posted clarification language about animal models in NIH research grants.nih.gov/news-events/...

10 SEC. 542. In making Federal financial assistance, the 11 Department of Commerce, the National Aeronautics and 12 Space Administration, and the National Science Founda13 tion shall continue to apply the negotiated indirect cost 14 rates for Institutions of Higher Education in section 15 200.414 of title 2, Code of Federal Regulations, including 16 with respect to the approval of deviations from negotiated 17 indirect cost rates, to the same extent and in the same 18 manner as such negotiated indirect cost rates were applied 19 in fiscal year 2024: Provided, That none of the funds ap20 propriated in this or prior Commerce, Justice, Science, 21 and Related Agencies Appropriations Acts, or otherwise 22 made available to the Department of Commerce, the Na23 tional Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Na24 tional Science Foundation may be used to develop, modify, 143 •S 2354 RS 1 or implement changes to such fiscal year 2024 negotiated 2 indirect cost rates.

🧪 For those following indirect rates (not normally an issue with so much drama!):

Senate bill, out today, seeks to block the admin from making abrupt changes to indirect rates at NSF, NASA, and NOAA: www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

Both the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations have now passed funding for science agencies with moderate cuts and flat funding, respectively. Both bills are quite far from the president's budget request, which proposes massive cuts to science funding.

Open educational resources, student efficacy, and user perceptions: a synthesis of research published between 2015 and 2018 - Educational technology research and development Although textbooks are a traditional component in many higher education contexts, their increasing price have led many students to forgo purchasing them and some faculty to seek substitutes. One such ...

Open educational resources are free, but are they any good?

Checkout this metanalysis! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Overall:
1) Students in classes that used OERs achieved the same or better learning outcomes as those in classes without OERs
2) Students and faculty liked using OERs!

Many warned me about the risks of speaking up publicly for science. I’m here to say I’ve faced no retaliation. On the contrary, I’ve received support, appreciation, and even some positive outcomes. Do what you can to save 🧪

NIH proposal on animal research could cost time and money NIH will no longer include research that exclusively uses animal models, leaving scientists wondering how it might affect the future of animal research.

A new NIH mandate, announced last week, would get rid of funding opportunities that use animal research exclusively; neuroscientists worry this is premature.

By @claudia-lopez.bsky.social

#neuroskyence

www.thetransmitter.org/animal-model...

Slashing Federal Research Funds Will Set US STEM Students Back | Opinion If the U.S. hopes to thrive in an increasingly competitive global marketplace, we need to invest more, not less, in STEM education.

"This year the NSF has funded half as many grants as last year, even though Congress allocated similar funds for both years. Research grants for STEM education have been nearly eliminated, cut by 80 percent compared to last year..." (1/2) www.newsweek.com/us-stem-stud...