(Photo courtesy of Boston Globe) “Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell”
Conor Moyer
Connector Editor
Last Friday, the National Institutes of Health announced a new “indirect cost reimbursements” cap set at 15% of grant funding for universities nationwide. A cap that could lead to a gap of millions for UMass Lowell research. This 15% figure, taking effect on February 10th, marks a sharp decline from the current average of 27-28% being funded for maintaining laboratory facilities and support staff, raising widespread concerns among research institutions reliant on these funds.
In defense of this policy shift, the NIH cited its responsibility for financial oversight. “NIH is obligated to carefully steward grant awards to ensure taxpayer dollars are used in ways that benefit the American people and improve their quality of life,” the agency stated in its announcement. It noted the challenge in overseeing these funds due to the difficulty of attributing them to specific projects. Out of the $35 billion awarded in research grants in 2023, $9 billion was allocated to cover indirect costs. With this cap in place, the NIH anticipates saving $4 billion annually.
For UMass Lowell, the ramifications of this policy are expected to be profound. The university has secured tens of millions in NIH grants to support research initiatives, notably focused on chronic disease, digital health, machine learning in healthcare, and medical imaging. Some current projects funded by the NIH include the RELAX Project, a $1.3 million initiative to develop a mobile application suite to combat obesity and stress, and the $2 million Get Social Project, which examines how social networks influence lifestyle interventions. Other prominent NIH-funded efforts are a $2.4 million project on predicting youth physical activity, a $10 million Center on Population Health and Health Disparities, and a $2 million study on postpartum diabetes prevention in Hispanic women.
Additionally, in late 2023, researchers at UMass Lowell and UMass Chan Medical School received a $8.9 million renewal grant from the NIH for the Point-of-Care Technology Research Network, a project advancing point-of-care and home-based health technologies. This coming reduction in funding threatens these and similar projects.
Beyond Lowell, the broader University of Massachusetts system will face financial uncertainty. In 2021, the research enterprise across UMass was valued at $752 million, with $446 million sourced from federal agencies like the NIH or the National Science Foundation. As indirect cost reimbursements diminish, UMass might have to reduce administrative support, postpone research initiatives, or pivot towards corporate partnerships—where private sector agendas may dictate the future trajectory of the state’s research.
Critics of the decision argue that indirect costs are critical in maintaining research infrastructure, facilitating laboratory operations, ensuring compliance with regulations, and supporting staffing needs. Dr. David A. Baltrus, an associate professor at the University of Arizona, cautioned against the long-term repercussions of such cuts to The New York Times. “I think it’s going to destroy research universities in the short term, and I don’t know after that,” he stated. “They rely on the money. They budget for the money. The universities were making decisions expecting the money to be there.”
The impact of this decision could ripple beyond universities, perhaps undercutting the United States’ longstanding position as a global leader in research as competition intensifies. In 2019, the U.S. accounted for 27% of global R&D expenditures, with China following closely at 22%. While the U.S. currently leads, continued significant reductions in research funding could hinder the nation’s edge in critical sectors such as biotech, pharma, and AI-driven medical research.
However, a federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked the NIH from implementing the new funding, pending court arguments, with a hearing scheduled for February 21. This ruling comes after 22 states sued to stop the change, including Massachusetts. Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, who joined the multi-state lawsuit, stated, “We will not allow the Trump Administration to unlawfully undermine our economy, hamstring our competitiveness, or play politics with our public health.”
