Rhode Island researchers are on edge.
Proposed cuts to National Institutes of Health funding could have extensive ramifications for local universities, hospitals and the effort to develop Rhode Island as a life science hub.
The consequences could be the greatest at Brown University, which receives hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government for research in a variety of fields. The cuts would be “devastating effects on Brown’s ability to conduct research both short and long term,” Greg Hirth, vice president of research for the university, said in documents filed as part of a federal lawsuit by 22 state attorneys general.
NIH – the main funder of biomedical research in the country – announced in February that it cut support for indirect research costs for grant recipients. Under the policy proposal by President Donald Trump’s administration, indirect costs would be capped at 15% for all grants.
The attorneys general, including R.I. Attorney General Peter F. Neronha, filed a federal lawsuit challenging the NIH plan. U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley in Boston issued a temporary restraining order blocking the cuts. The block will remain until she makes a final decision.
Had the indirect cost rate been reduced to 15% in fiscal year 2024 – when Brown received about $253 million in federal funds, with $63 million for indirect costs – the university would have reported about a $27 million loss, Hirth said in documents in the state attorneys general court filing. To recover from the loss, Brown would have had to cut more than 200 jobs that support research such as lab managers, custodians, security officers and animal care staff.
Meanwhile, the University of Rhode Island has $45.5 million in funds from NIH. If the 15% cap stood, the school would lose an estimated $4.8 million each year, spokesperson Patrick Luce said in an email.
Kerry LaPlante, dean of URI’s College of Pharmacy who has conducted NIH-funded research, said the cap will make research much more difficult because funds go to necessary safety measures. Also, maintaining and building high-quality lab space in Rhode Island is crucial for attracting researchers to the state.
“You can’t maintain these laboratories with the personnel and safety at an NIH cap rate of 15%,” she said.
Indeed, Hirth said plans for Brown’s $400 million research facility that’s under construction may not be possible with a 15% overhead rate, costing jobs ranging from construction to lab work.
Plans for Ocean State Labs – which will serve as the state’s first incubator space for life science startup companies – are on target to be completed this year, said Dr. Mark Turco, CEO and president of the R.I. Life Science Hub. But it’s only a building, and there needs to be a way for startup companies to fund their research so they can use the labs.
While it isn’t funded by NIH, the hub plans to look for alternative funds for startups, such as donations and private investments.
Hospitals are also on pins and needles.
Care New England Health System is “deeply concerned,” spokesperson Raina Smith said in an email. The health system is collaborating with Rhode Island’s congressional delegation and Neronha to assess the effects of the proposed cuts and keep research going, she said. A spokesperson for Brown University Health did not provide a comment to PBN.
Health care professionals say the cuts will affect patients.
“These financial impacts will come at a tradeoff and we need to be really careful of what that will be,” LaPlante said. “The tradeoff will be a decrease in the amount of research coming from our health care systems and universities and that will have a downstream effect on the quality of patient care.”
