As a nonprofit institution, UC Irvine’s Office of Research relies on various funding sources, including tuition revenue, alumni donations and federal funds derived from taxpayer money. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) provides the most funding to institutes and schools conducting medical research, including UCI’s College of Health Sciences.
From 2016-2023, NIH reimbursement funds varied annually, averaging about 37 percent over that period. The corresponding portion of money the university spent on funds designated category is reimbursed to the university.
On Feb. 7, the NIH announced a new grant policy that reduced the rate to 15 percent across the board, resulting in a $1.5 billion budget cut to all health sciences institutions in the nation, including hospitals. A federal judge issued a temporary order blocking the policy from taking effect on Feb. 10. As of Feb. 24, this block remains in effect until the judge makes her final decision.
New University spoke with the UCI School of Medicine scientific community. Many researchers are unsure about the future of their funding.
According to Principal Investigator (PI) and Founding Director of Muscle Biology and Disease Research Center Sergio Armando Villalta, this period of instability has been discussed among PIs at the Office of Research.
“I think my first thing is that we always talk amongst us faculty, so your office neighbor, which are other faculty members that are doing the same gig. You start talking about did you see that email [about the NIH],” Villalta told New University. “All of us here are investigators that are writing grants; we depend on the indirects to run the university. Learning if it [is] cut down to 15% was gonna be really a huge thing.”
Biological chemistry professor Ivan Marazzi, Villalta’s fellow PI, highlighted they can’t provide any clear answers without a judge’s decision.
“We have no clue, nobody knows because it’s politics. Now they are talking to find a resolution to this problem,” Marazzi told New University. “As of now nothing is happening, NIH is blocked, we are blocked, we are not getting anything different than before. They are trying to do something different and nothing is happening.”
On the morning of Feb. 21, graduate student Jessie Luu from the Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Department at UCI’s School of Medicine arrived at Burke Lab to find that her PI, Dr. Melody Li, had called a meeting to discuss her funding. Luu wasn’t surprised by being cut.
“I think after the election, I was just like, ‘Oh, my God, this country is not really supporting science,’” Luu told New University. “It’s just you thinking about just leaving the U.S. and just researching somewhere else where that can be an option. It doesn’t mean that you don’t have funding. It’s just gonna be harder for you to get access to new [opportunities], because there’s postdoc after that and the economy is not good. So, industry [jobs] may be limited.”
Second-year data science student Nicholas Korvink has assisted with prostate cancer research under Dr. Farahnaz Rahmatpanah since the summer of 2024. He had no prior knowledge of the disputes leading to federal aid cuts.
“It’s unbelievable … I figured just research would be safe, because I think that research is just humans understanding a little bit more about what’s going on,” Korvink told New University. “And I think that’s a fairly safe [and] reasonable, you know, not blue or red — everyone just wants to figure out more stuff. But I guess I was wrong.”
Daniela Cox Beltran, a graduate student in the School of Medicine Medical Scientist Training Program, was heading to her bimonthly lunch meeting with the research program. During that lunch, she learned about the potential funding cuts — a reality that caught her off guard like many other researchers.
“I actually did not predict. I think for me is that when we’re in classes, we get a little disconnected,” Beltran told New University. “We try to stay connected with what’s going on in the world, but we get so focused on exams and projects, and sometimes you just get surprised.”
Clara Carvalho is a Features Intern for the winter 2025 quarter. She can be reached at claraac@uci.edu.
Edited by Kaelyn Kwon.