Follow COGR on LinkedIn4/4/25Wall Street Journal
Trump Administration Lays Out Demands to Harvard to Keep Federal Funding
The Trump administration escalated its campaign against American universities by preparing to pull $510 million in federal grants from Brown University, while also laying out demands Harvard must meet to avoid losing billions in government dollars.
Inside Higher EdSee also
Brown Becomes Latest Institution to Have Federal Grants Frozen
New York TimesSee also
Trump Administration Sends Harvard a List of Demands to Protect Federal Funds
See also
If Powerful Places Like Harvard Don’t Stand Up to Trump, Who Can? (New York Times, Opinion)
4/4/25Nature
Tariffs hit science labs: Trump levies raise cost of supplies
The Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs on imports into the United States — which range from 10% on products from some countries up to 54% on goods from China — are increasing the costs of labware and specialist scientific instruments in the country. The price increases come as research budgets for US labs are stretched thin by unprecedented grant cancellations and cuts to university funding introduced since Donald Trump’s second presidency began in January.
4/4/25Bloomberg Law
States Sue Trump Administration Over Canceled Research Grants
The Trump administration was sued by a group of Democrat-led states that claim the federal government is illegally canceling research grants that fund what they describe as critical medical and scientific advancements.
4/3/25Bloomberg Law
Universities Struggle With NIH Research Funding Disclosure Rules
Most academic institutions receiving federal NIH medical research grants failed to correctly identify supplemental funding sources that must be reported, including those made on behalf of foreign governments, a federal watchdog said. The US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General on Thursday released a report that found only 19% of 886 surveyed institutions receiving investment from the National Institutes of Health properly identified the types of monetary donations that must be reported to the NIH.
4/3/25The Chronicle, Opinion
The Incoherent Policy Change Wreaking Havoc on University Research
The solution shouldn’t be a policy that seems designed to destabilize rather than to reform the current system. Instead, we need an explicit, hard-nosed look at the “fragile contract” between the state and universities that has governed research since World War II. The grounds of that bargain have been shifting since at least the end of the Cold War, but any effort to reset the terms must begin with a broader view: It is time to step away from isolated examples and ask how current IDC policy creates and sustains the research capabilities that have served us so well.
4/3/25
Federal advisory panel on ethical, legal issues in human health research disbanded (STAT
A committee of experts that advises the Department of Health and Human Services on emerging ethical and legal issues in human health research has been disbanded, according to an email obtained by STAT.
4/3/25Science
NIH under orders to cancel $2.6 billion in contracts
As the nonprofit online news site NOTUS reported on 2 April, the cuts are part of a 35% reduction in contracts that billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has requested at each division within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), NIH’s parent agency. Science has learned that emails went out across NIH starting last week calling for staff to review lists of contracts that DOGE suggests could be trimmed or canceled
4/3/25Science, Editorial
Don’t quit the long game
Deep tech ventures are launched by scientist-entrepreneurs and thrive in ecosystems where labs, highly trained individuals, government funding, and risk capital intersect. Universities are key to cultivating deep-tech innovations by supplying the talent, infrastructure, and intellectual freedom essential for the long-term, high-risk research required. Cuts to major sources of support, including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and Department of Defense, now endanger this innovation environment
AP News
4/3/25 Federal judge says she will temporarily block billions in health funding cuts to states
A federal judge will temporarily block President Donald Trump’s administration from cutting billions in federal dollars that support COVID-19 initiatives and public health projects throughout the country.
4/3/25Nature
Exclusive: Trump White House directs NIH to study ‘regret’ after transgender people transition
After cancelling nearly all NIH projects studying transgender health, Trump’s team instructs the US biomedical agency to study negative consequences of transitioning
4/3/25NPR
Cultural groups across U.S. told that federal humanities grants are terminated
Millions of dollars in previously awarded federal grants intended for arts and cultural groups across the country are being canceled by the Trump administration, according to a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) senior official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they're not authorized to speak publicly
4/3/25Nature
Journal targeted by paper mill still grappling with the aftermath years later
A biotechnology journal that was inundated with paper-mill submissions in 2021 — and claimed in 2023 that it had tackled the problem — still harbours hundreds of dubious papers, an analysis by research-integrity sleuths has found.
4/2/25Reuters
Researchers, ACLU sue over Trump's 'ideological purge' of NIH grants
Scientific researchers on Wednesday sued to secure reinstatement of National Institutes of Health grants that funded research on topics like LGBTQ health, COVID-19 and vaccine hesitancy canceled by Republican President Donald Trump's administration as part of an "ideological purge."
4/2/25Inside Higher Ed
Researchers, Higher Ed Union Fight NIH Grant Terminations
A new lawsuit argues that canceling billions in research grants will delay scientific advancements, compromise human health and even result in deaths.
4/2/25AIP.org
Trump Escalates Punitive University Research Cuts
The Trump administration has threatened to pull research grants from dozens of universities over claims these institutions are failing to do enough to combat antisemitism or comply with other administration priorities, with Harvard University among the latest in its crosshairs
4/2/25The Chronicle
The Quiet Way the NIH Is Stalling Some Research Before It Starts
The Chronicle has found that during the last half of March, at least 20 applications were taken out of the first stage of peer review, known as a study section, according to emails, screenshots, and interviews with scientists. They were not rejected outright, but seemingly put on hold by NIH employees who declined to explain why, other than to state in some cases that the agency is conducting “a review of its research priorities.” They also did not say when, or whether, they would ever be evaluated.