UW researchers in the dark about federal funding despite court order against Trump administration, as WSU also faces millions in withheld money

A lab at the University of Washington could be disbanded halfway through its five-year project because it has not received federal funding for which it already has been approved.

Michael Gerner and his team of researchers study how the human immune system reacts to vaccinations. Their work is meant to make vaccines safer and eliminate adverse reactions that exist. The Seattle-based lab just began its third year of grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, but the annual check is now three weeks late with no indication on whether it will arrive.

“All of the people in my laboratory are completely dependent on the grant dollars that come in. It pays the salaries, it supports the experiments we do, it helps educate our Ph.D. students. We cannot do these things if we don’t have funding,” he said.

Right now Gerner’s lab workers are “terrified” of losing their job and years of their life on research that may never be published.

“Right now we are running on a nonexistent budget. And that sort of negative balance is going to accumulate to a point where we have to stop, and that may be very, very soon,” he said.

Over the five-year project, Gerner’s lab is supposed to receive annual payments of approximately $290,000, which accounts for roughly half of the lab’s annual budget. Three weeks ago the lab was supposed to receive its third year of grant funding.

The Trump administration’s efforts to freeze federal funds were supposedly halted after a federal judge ruled earlier this month that those funds must be paid to grant holders. Gerner neither has the funds nor has the NIH communicated with him.

“It has been agreed upon by the legal system that this is not OK. The judge said this was illegal. This was an illegal order to withhold funds that were already awarded. But if the legal system can’t even impose the law, that is a problem,” Gerner said.

As first reported in the journal Nature, the Trump administration appears to be exploiting a “loophole” to prevent NIH funds from being released by delaying grant-review meetings, in which receivers of the grants’ progress reports annually are reviewed by a panel before sending funds. The meetings of the review panel must be posted 15 days ahead of time in the Federal Register.

Since President Donald Trump took office, the NIH has not provided notice for any of these meetings, and without that notice, they cannot take place. Because the agency has not taken these procedural steps, the funds cannot be dispersed despite the court ruling. During the same period last year, 150 notices had been posted.

It is unclear whether this loophole is being used to impede Gerner’s grant funds. NIH grant administrators will not respond to any messages.

While this lab and others like it have faced the most immediate consequences all researchers receiving federal grants are impacted.

The National Institutes of Health issued a directive Feb. 6 to retroactively cap all grant-indirect rates at 15%.

When researchers receive a federal grant, an additional amount is set aside for the university for costs related to building maintenance, equipment and other administrative costs. These funds cover costs incurred because of the research but do not directly relate to the research itself.

Previously, each university negotiated with the federal government over the indirect reimbursement rate.

The 15% cap would be much lower than the rates most universities have negotiated.

Washington State University estimates this change could cost $23.5 million a year, while UW estimate their losses could exceed $90 million annually.

“All research will be affected because it affects the shared infrastructure shared by researchers,” UW post-doctoral researcher Thornton Thompson said.

The cuts could also directly impact Spokane where medical research is conducted by WSU’s Spokane medical campus. The city has signed on to a lawsuit against the NIH funding rule.

Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown said that the medical research in Spokane is a driver of the city’s economy.

“The research being conducted at Washington State University Spokane helps save lives,” Brown said in a statement. “Slashing support for research institutions is not only a threat to the health of Americans, but it will have permeating repercussions on local economies through job loss and jeopardizing the progress this institution has made over the last several years.”

Republican Congressman Michael Baumgartner went to WSU earlier last week to meet with some of the researchers who have been impacted by the funding cuts and freeze. In an interview Baumgartner said he has “concerns” over how this issue is being handled by the Trump administration even as he supports their efforts to eliminate government waste.

“I would prefer that they were talking with Congress about this ahead of time, rather than after the fact,” he said.

While he admits there are “a lot of good things and appropriate things” funded by the federal government at research institutions, he also said “government bloat” has “gotten out of control.”

“The great thing about what the Trump administration is doing is reinvigorating a conversation with the American people that every public tax dollar needs to be justified,” Baumgartner said.

The recently inaugurated congressman pointed to the new NIH rule on indirect rates.

“Look, you ask the common person on the street, when you get 50% overhead on an NIH grant, that seems a little high to the guy on the street. And if you ask the common American taxpayer, the Trump administration’s goal to move that to 15% at first glance seems reasonable. Now, if it’s not, you need to explain that,” he said.

Asked about these criticisms, UW researchers said this funding should not be compared to private companies.

“If we sold our own drugs and if we made money directly from our research, that comparison would make sense. Our research is meant to be disseminated for the benefit of everyone,” Thompson said.

UW researcher and immunology Professor Jakob von Moltke also noted that the 15% rate cited by the Trump administration is not the rate the federal government gives to private research but the rate private philanthropy gives to university research.

“Research at universities has some private investors that account for a small portion of all our funding. And private foundations like this typically do not pay us more than a 15% indirect rate. But that rate is not based on any sort of market competitiveness. It is just what private companies are willing to give away,” von Moltke said.

Thompson believes that many in the Trump administration are genuine in their efforts to reduce government waste.

“There may be some intention for reducing the burden to the taxpayer but it’s being done in a really irresponsible manner. These are not cuts based on audits. It’s sort of a willful misunderstanding that will harm research and harm people for years to come,” he said.

Orion Donovan Smith contributed to this report.