Durham, N.C. (AP) — Duke University is preparing for the worst as it faces hundreds of millions of dollars in federal fundraising potential losses.
Like research universities around the US, North Carolina research triangle private schools will see a big loss from the Trump administration Grant cuts From the National Institutes of Health.
Duke is one of the most difficult hits. In the previous fiscal year, Duke won $580 million in NIH grants and contracts. This is the 11th research institute of the country. Cuts are temporarily delayed by a Court challengehowever, universities across the country have implemented employment freezes, reduced research and developed contingency plans in case the loss of funds becomes effective.
Historically, the federal government has negotiated with universities and universities about contributions to operating costs. If scientists win federal grants to fund their research, the government will pay the schools an additional amount as part of the grant.
At Duke, the current rate of these “overheads” (costs such as utilities and laboratory maintenance) is around 61%. Last month, President Donald Trump’s administration Set the rate cap At 15%, significantly less than most universities receive.
Reducing indirect costs is far from the only concern. After NIH suspended Grant Application Review Meeting in January, funds for new grants also flowed and slowed. Duke’s NIH Grant and Contract Award notifications plummeted, down from 64 in January 2024 and February 2024, according to the university.
Already, uncertainty has caused a reaction in Duke’s medical school. This is more than three-quarters of the university’s NIH funding. The expansion project is on shelved. Students with fewer doctoral degrees are recognized. And researchers are evaluating whether their projects can continue.
Payment maintains freezers and machines to grow cancer cells
The Trump administration has described indirect costs as “administrative bloat,” and said cuts will save money. Over $4 billion Every year. The change would free up more money for scientific research, officials said.
“The Trump administration is committed to cutting down the cottage industry built from waste, fraud and abuse within our huge government, while prioritizing the needs of everyday Americans,” said White House spokesman Kush Desai.
Through NIH funding, the university has partnered with the federal government for decades to help scientists in their academic pursuits.
Duke’s professor of pharmacology and cancer biology, Donald McDonnell estimates that his lab has received up to $40 million in NIH funding over 30 years. His lab developed a drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 20023 and treated metastasis breast cancer.
Maintenance of lab equipment, including machines for growing large freezers of cancer cells, enzymes and chemicals, cannot afford it if the indirect cost rate drops to 15%, McDonnell said. His lab will likely turn red due to uncertainty about the NIH grants.
“The bottom line is, I can’t live, I can’t think of it in this mess,” McDonnell said.
Last year, Duke’s total research budget was $1.33 billion, with $863 million from the federal government. Without NIH funding, many scientists would have to resort to private organizations and charities.
“We have long-standing relationships with private funders and industry partners and value their contributions, but the federal fund provides the largest single source of research dollars ever.”
The indirect cost cap also hampers the research of Professor Nantia Susana, a professor of neurosurgery and biomedical engineering, relocating from the University of California, Los Angeles.
To study brain activity and treat conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder and Parkinson’s disease, Susana needs a lab large enough for the patient to roam while the patient captures heart rate, eye tracking, sweat and brain waves. Along the wall, 40-50 cameras (each costing around $5,000) record the movement.
Her new lab is under construction, but Suthana said she is worried that if she funds uncertainty, it will have to be scaled down within a year.
PhD students are in the frontier
Duke’s medical school has reduced the number of doctoral degrees. Students will accept it in the next fall semester. Last year, the school brought in about 130 students, said Beth Sullivan, who oversees the school’s 17 biomedical doctorates. program. Currently, our target is less than 100 people.
That means that the size of the class is smaller over time, and as a result, it means a reduction in the pipeline to a career in medical research, she said.
“Our next generation of researchers are now dressed at the edge of this cliff and don’t know if there’s a bridge that reaches the other side or if this is it,” Sullivan said.
Over 630 doctoral medical students, and nearly all students from their second year onwards, receive federal support from either the NIH or the National Science Foundation.
Caleb Mciver, a third-year doctoral student, had applied for the NIH Diversity Supplet (a fundraising opportunity to encourage professors to train minority students) when information about the initiative was removed from the agency’s website. Black McQuiber is now considering other NIH grants No relation to diversity, equity or inclusive initiativesthat’s what the Trump administration was like. Cleans up from the federal government.
“I’m quite stressed,” McQuiber said. “I mean, we need funds, so we need to find them.”
Duke reconsiders are planning for a new research building
The university had planned to build a new research building on the site of the old, recently vacant building. These plans are currently pending, Dean Colin Duckett said.
Even small projects, such as renovations to building floors, cannot be started due to budget uncertainty. Hundreds of people working in closed labs will consolidate in other buildings. If the rate of indirect costs drops to 15%, the layoffs will be wider, Duckett said.
Duckett’s work previously focused on recruiting the brightest scientists and providing resources at Duke, he said. Now he has taken on quite a different role.
“It’s damage control,” he said. “That’s a way to survive as an institution.”
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