Medical and scientific researchers at UB could lose $47 million in funding for the “indirect costs” of research, such as lab space, equipment and support staff, under the Trump administration’s planned cuts to the National Institutes of Health, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Tim Kennedy warned Friday.
Speaking alongside university officials at UB’s downtown Clinical and Translational Research Center, the two urged the Trump administration to reverse the cuts, which would reduce NIH funding for indirect costs to 15 percent. Federal funding for indirect costs averaged 40 percent at UB last year, the university says.
The cuts have been temporarily blocked by federal judges in two lawsuits filed by state attorneys general and universities.
UB was the ninth largest recipient of NIH grants in New York last year, with 204 grants netting researchers $83 million in funding, according to a report by The New York Times. Large projects with NIH funding include a new animal research facility to study the oral biome, development of antibiotics capable of defeating drug-resistant bacteria, and scientific training on racial health inequities in Buffalo.
The Times report estimated that if the NIH cuts were in effect last year, UB would have had $13 million less funding, a reduction of 15.7 percent. But the losses to the university could extend further, as the university takes on increased costs to keep existing studies running. The university’s $47 million estimate, based on the typical three- to five-year length of NIH grants, includes $7 million through June 30, “to support research, labs, equipment, federal compliance protocols and other overhead.”
Speaking Friday, Gillibrand said the cuts could affect more than 30,000 NIH-supported jobs across New York.
“They are trying to micromanage how a research institution actually does their research based on no measurables — based on fantasy arguments, based on talking points,” Gillibrand said. “Not based on knowledge, not based on information about what is actually wasted, and not based on any allegations of mismanagement of their money.”
Kennedy called the cuts “illegal,” saying that the administration cannot implement them without congressional approval.
“These are matters of life and death,” Kennedy said. “These illegal cuts need to be rescinded immediately and we need to let scientists and doctors get back to the business of saving lives.”
Dr. Alison Brashear, dean of UB’s Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, told The Spectrum that UB is still analyzing the impact of the potential cuts, but will see a significant budgetary hole if they are implemented.
“I do hope that this stops, and then we can go back to the business of doing research and taking care of patients and training students,” Brashear said.
Madison Pember contributed to the reporting of this article.
Mylien Lai is the senior news editor and can be reached at mylien.lai@ubspectrum.com.
Mylien Lai is the senior news editor at The Spectrum. Outside of getting lost in Buffalo, she enjoys practicing the piano and being a bean plant mom. She can be found at @my_my_my_myliennnn on Instagram.
