…And we’re back.
Apologies for the radio silence. It has been a relatively quiet couple of week (all things considered and with all the usual caveats).
This week’s update includes a summary of the developments related to OMB/NIH, several announcements and reminders out of HHS, and an update into the DOJ investigation into UCSF admissions. For reference, I have also included updates from earlier this month.
Our header image is one of many, many split diopter shots from The Andromeda Strain. Actually, it is a DOUBLE split diopter! This bit of nerdery brought to you by my recent viewing of The End of Oak Street and Camp Miasma, both of which make use it as much as your average Brian De Palma movie.
Anyway, here’s the news:
The Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, and many others reported early this week on a meeting during which the President asked the head of the White House Office of Management and Budget to draft an executive order to set up a commission that would have veto authority over NIH grants.
As of now, no draft EO has circulated and there is no timeline for when such an EO would be published. There has been bipartisan pushback to such a degree that the EO may now be stalled.
The hypothetical EO is separate from OMB’s proposed changes to federal grant making that have been delayed until at least December 11th.
Late Friday, the White House proposed a set of budget recissions affecting research and education programs.
This week Science published an editorial authored by NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya about the agency’s recent efforts to enhance rigor and reproducibility, including the agency’s new Linked Discoveriestool and the Rigor, Replicability, and Reproducibility to Promote Excellence, Accuracy, and Translation in Science (R3PEATS) initiative. The latter is a $174 million, 5-year initiative to fund training, tools, investigator-initiated research grants, and other efforts to make rigorous research methods and replicating experiments a routine part of scientists’ work.
NIH put out a post this week reminding grant recipients that NIH award funds may not be used for lobbying or advocacy activities.
NIH has published a draft policywhich would require grant recipients to share summary level data with research participants. Comments on the policy can be submitted on or before October 26, 2026.
HHS announced several new efforts this week to “reduce unnecessary animal testing”.
The FDA issued a direct final rule that updates its regulations to clarify that non-animal methods can be used where appropriate for testing the safety of drugs and biological products intended for human use before they’re tried in humans.
NIH announced a series of investments and initiatives focused on New Approach Methodologies.
This week the DOJ announced its finding that the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine (UCSF Medical School) discriminated based on race in its admissions practices.
And Previously…
Two weeks ago, the National Science Foundation sent a memo [PDF] describing how the agency will seek to fulfill its mission moving forward.
The memo explicitly describes the agency’s new direction as aligned with the vision articulated in the recent OSTP report Science: A New Golden Age, including broadening funding away from universities and implementing new funding mechanisms such as “golden tickets” which empower individual reviewers to select high-risk proposals that are unlikely to garner consensus support.
A group of researchers have, along with the ACLU, filed a class action lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health, arguing that the agency’s policy screening of grant proposals for specific keywords violates the first amendment. Because the lawsuit is class action, a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs would apply to all grants affected by this policy.
A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction blocking a new rule from the Department of Homeland Security which limits the duration of student visas to four years. The injunction will remain in place nationwide as litigation proceeds.