{"id":598835,"date":"2026-08-28T17:12:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T17:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/598835\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T17:12:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T17:12:10","slug":"amid-funding-uncertainty-neuroscientists-report-a-mix-of-cynicism-persistence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/598835\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid funding uncertainty, neuroscientists report a mix of cynicism, persistence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past few years, scientists in the United States have faced a series of upheavals: Budgets at federal funding agencies have been cut, grants have been delayed or canceled, grant review policies have become murky and politically charged. In a recent post on Bluesky<\/a>, neuroscientist Nicole Rust<\/a>, one of The Transmitter\u2019s contributing editors, asked scientists how they are dealing with that uncertainty two years in, and whether it is influencing how they plan to approach the next couple of years. \u201cI\u2019m now leaning into the notion that funding uncertainty is a new reality in the US and it\u2019s unclear when it will lift,\u201d Rust writes. \u201cBecause reality has changed, it doesn\u2019t make sense to do the exact same things and expect the same outcomes. It\u2019s time to revisit the value equation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Responses to her post spanned the gamut from cynicism to persistence and defiance, with many neuroscientists reflecting on how the new reality is affecting the community more broadly. The Transmitter spoke with some of the neuroscientists who commented on her post.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most read <\/p>\n

Several highlighted the damage being done to the scientific enterprise. \u201cThe American scientific superpower \u2026 is built on public funding,\u201d Mark Histed<\/a>, chief of the unit on neural computation at the National Institute of Mental Health, told The Transmitter, speaking in his personal capacity and not as a representative of the institute. \u201cThat is why the U.S. has been a talent magnet for the whole globe\u2014because of public investment, and that public investment is what\u2019s under threat \u2026 There is great damage being done to science, and the public is looking to scientists to talk about not just what is happening, but why.\u201d He cites Science magazine\u2014and its editor-in-chief Holden Thorp<\/a>\u2014as an outlet that is effectively discussing what is happening, offering a model for other organizations.<\/p>\n

David Weinshenker<\/a>, professor of human genetics at the Emory University School of Medicine, told The Transmitter that the uncertainty could have far-ranging impacts not yet fully appreciated: \u201cI \u2026 don\u2019t think the public realizes how far progress has already been set back and how many new treatments and cures will be delayed by years or decades or maybe never come to fruition.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Funding uncertainty has also had a stark effect on morale within the scientific community. \u201cThe recent changes by the administration have created an unprecedented opaque and demoralizing environment for biomedical researchers,\u201d Weinshenker told The Transmitter, citing efforts to terminate grants that don\u2019t align with administration priorities and having political appointees make final funding decisions. \u201cUnder these conditions, it is very difficult to justify spending the dozens and dozens of hours and enormous bandwidth required for writing and submitting a really good grant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weinshenker plans to continue to submit grants, but he says that he and others worry about having to downsize or shutter their labs. Because he has had a long career, this wouldn\u2019t be as devastating as it might be to younger researchers, he says. \u201cI am most furious and concerned about my more junior faculty colleagues, who are just starting or in the middle of their careers, as well as my current trainees who dream of working in academic science.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n Under these conditions, it is very difficult to justify spending the dozens and dozens of hours and enormous bandwidth required for writing and submitting a really good grant. <\/p>\n

\u2014 <\/p>\n

\u2014
\n David Weinshenker <\/p>\n

Several commenters also noted the uneven impact of funding cuts. Kameron Decker Harris<\/a>, associate professor of computer science at Western Washington University, says that non-R1 universities such as his are likely to be hit especially hard. \u201cThe [funding] pool is getting smaller, and we get lumped together with universities that have far more resources,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s very hard to compete.\u201d Lack of grant funding is already affecting whether he can pay students, go to conferences and publish in open-access journals. \u201cA $2,000 publishing fee would be a third of the cost of funding a summer research student,\u201d he says. \u201cThe levels of money we deal with are an order of magnitude less than any of these big research institutions.\u201d Decker Harris says he also plans to continue to apply for grants, \u201cbut I expect I will be shrinking the size of my research group.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sharena Rice<\/a>, who will soon begin a new position overseeing neuroscience clinical trials at the healthcare company Radial, told The Transmitter she left academia before the ongoing upheavals, in part because of funding vagaries. In the current climate, she says she is seeing an increased interest in nontraditional paths to funding. \u201cThere is a lot more enthusiasm about starting focused research organizations amidst these changes,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Several other researchers cited growing interest in alternative funding sources, though some pointed out that these cannot make up for gaps in government funding\u2014and availability is heavily sub-field dependent. Decker Harris, for example, told The Transmitter he plans to apply for more grants from private sources. \u201cMy work is NeuroAI type stuff; there\u2019s lots of money for AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid the strategizing, others expressed a mix of grief, resolve and hope about what lies ahead. \u201cI am grateful that the brave organizers among us have successfully rallied support against the worst-case. I am furious that the damage already done will take a decade+ to repair,\u201d wrote Julian Meeks<\/a>, associate professor of neuroscience at University of Rochester Medicine, on Bluesky. \u201cI am down several ppl, and can\u2019t hire new ppl right now, but am working to support & survive in hopes of a brighter day.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Over the past few years, scientists in the United States have faced a series of upheavals: Budgets at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":["post-598835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}