The gears of the grantmaking machinery at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have begun to move again, after a 2-week standstill following a controversial ban on communications imposed by President Donald Trump.
NIH had ceased meetings where grants are reviewed as it responded to a communications “pause” along with executive orders banning funding related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and “gender ideology,” among other topics. But an agency leader told staff today the higher level reviews by advisory councils will resume. And scientists who provide the first level of that peer review are reporting that their study section meetings are back on track.
The agency’s operations are still far from normal. Portions of the Trump-ordered communications pause originally set to end on 2 February are instead continuing, including a ban on speaking in public, which means intramural scientists can’t present their work at meetings. And the advisory council meetings, in which outside scientists provide a final grant review as well as strategic advice on new NIH programs, will not meet in open session. Furthermore, the agency is still under a mandate to review programs that violate Trump’s executive orders.
But reviews of grants that don’t obviously contradict the executive orders are resuming. And although NIH had not moved to halt previously awarded grants that touch on DEI, a concern for many scientists, any such actions would now seemingly violate two restraining orders, one from 31 January and a second from today that prohibit agencies from freezing or canceling awards.
The restraining orders were sought by more than 20 states; Washington, D.C.; and a group of nonprofit organizations. NIH-funded institutions received a notice about the first restraining order from the agency over the weekend.
In the biomedical research community, relief spilled out today. “The uncertainty has been very distressing. This has been exacerbated by the aggressive activities regarding issues around the makeup of the biomedical workforce. I was very pleased to learn that the core activities of the NIH funding programs now appear to be getting back on track,” says University of Pittsburgh biochemist Jeremy Berg, former director of NIH’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences, who has been monitoring the situation on Bluesky. (Berg is also a former Science editor-in-chief.)
NIH intramural senior investigators received word this morning that closed sessions of council meetings “are permitted,” according to a memo from Nina Schor, NIH deputy director for intramural research. She said that acting Director Matthew Memoli has also relayed that travel by scientists for site visits and collaborative research is allowed. But travel by agency researchers is “still NOT permitted” for scientific meetings or giving lectures.
“Thanks to you all with your patience as we move towards restoration of our mechanisms for interactive and productive science in the interest of the public good,” Schor wrote.
Several of the advisory councils for NIH’s 24 grantmaking institutes and centers are set to meet this week, starting tomorrow. And several members of study sections that review individual grant proposals either virtually or in person have posted on Bluesky that they have been informed that their meetings this week or later in the month will happen.
