University of Pittsburgh researchers gathered with state lawmakers on Monday to show off blood clot-dissolving microbubbles, live human lungs used to study pulmonary disease and a 3D printer that can manufacture human tissue. The displays were part of a broader discussion between legislators and Pitt administrators about how to manage disappearing federal funding for medical research.
Pitt — and other research institutions like Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pennsylvania — are grappling with multiple Trump administration initiatives to trim government spending in the medical research field.
A preliminary budget document leaked to the Washington Post indicates that Trump’s plan to slash spending on ancillary research infrastructure and support staff — so-called “indirect research costs” — is only the beginning. The proposal calls to reduce the budget of the National Institutes of Health from roughly $47 billion down to $27 billion. The plans have research institutions like Pitt frantically searching for alternative support but so far coming up empty.
“We’re doing everything we possibly can to support our researchers but... we do not have the ability to support everybody,” said Dr. Anne Marie Lennon, chair of medicine at Pitt’s School of Medicine and UPMC. “With the proposed 40% decrease in the NIH budget a large portion of the work that you've seen today will [no longer] exist.”
Pitt officials said the funding cuts have already terminated 12 research programs, including studies related to HIV, COVID-19 and vaccines. Pitt is the sixth highest recipient of NIH funding in the nation, securing $660 million last year alone. About a quarter of that went to just the department of medicine.
Democratic state representatives gathered at Pitt’s School of Medicine to learn more about what research is at stake and how jobs and the broader economy could be impacted by shuttered labs.
Rep. Abigail Salisbury stressed that the public needs to hear more about how the funding cuts are playing out. She stressed widespread disinformation about what research is at risk is a major obstacle to overcome, noting that anti-research advocates have been effective at dismissing the value of certain research endeavors.
“They make it sound foolish or eccentric … so the average person says, ‘Well, of course we don't need to study starfish or sea slugs or snails,’” Salisbury said. “The average person doesn’t understand that certain research is applicable to other things [like] genetics.”
Salisbury was joined by Allegheny County Reps. Arvind Venkat, Jessica Benham, John Inglis, Mandy Steele, Lindsay Powell, Dan Frankel and Aerion Abney for a roundtable discussion about research funding cuts. Pitt and CMU have remained largely quiet about the desperation around federal funding cuts. But lawmakers stressed the time to speak is now.
“When I sit down in Braddock, the average person has not heard this information nor do they know how it’s going to impact them,” Salisbury said.
Leaders at Pitt appeared to agree that the university should do more to inform the public about what’s at stake. In an email to university students and staff last week, Chancellor Joan Gabel acknowledged Pitt’s reluctance to speak publicly about how shifting federal priorities have impacted the community.
“Much of our work has been behind the scenes, and we know that can make it hard for our community to see the depth of our engagement,” she said.
In addition to the institution’s stability, Gabel also recognized the recent turmoil caused by the federal government revoking the student visas of three Pitt students and three recent graduates. Those students had their status reinstated earlier this week.
“With these complex and challenging issues comes a need for as much direct engagement and communication as possible given the understandable concerns of many,” she said.
Closing labs, terminated grants
Though research institutions like Pitt are already feeling the nosedive in spending by the National Institutes of Health, researchers are seeing other funding sources disappear and, in some cases, rescind aid offers.
This month, the National Science Foundation canceled five grants awarded to the University of Pittsburgh, totaling $1.7 million. The funds were earmarked for countering misinformation and public distrust in science, encouraging students to pursue careers in science and assessing the value of artificial intelligence programs for middle schoolers.
The NSF canceled two grants awarded to CMU totaling $1.8 million. Those funds would have supported an endeavor to test how digital learning games can improve math efficiency for middle school girls and a collaboration with other universities to promote equitable STEM career advancement for underrepresented groups.
During Monday’s tour, researchers lamented that some animal labs at the university will be forced to close under the new spending limits proposed by the Trump administration. Pitt officials said at least one rodent lab tied to Alzheimer’s research is winding down already.
Though the state house members came to Pitt to lend their support Monday, state Rep. Arvind Venkat, an emergency room physician, acknowledged Harrisburg’s inability to step in and replace federal spending.
“We’re not going to be able to rescue you at the state government,” Venkat said. “We don’t have the dollars; we don’t have the infrastructure … it has to come from the federal government.”
Venkat urged researchers to call the offices of Pennsylvania's two U.S. Senators John Fetterman and Dave McCormick for support. Neither office responded to WESA's request for comment Tuesday.
Brain drain
Shrinking funding for biomedical research endeavors in Pittsburgh could bruise health care innovation as well as quality of care at regional medical centers. But Pitt administrators stressed Monday that the impacts to the scientific talent pipeline will be felt for generations.
“Training the next generation, the pipeline of physician scientists for the next generation is really a critical part of our mission,” said Dr. Flordeliza Villanueva, a cardiology researcher and vice chair for pre-clinical research in the department of medicine. “If we have a lapse in the [funding], then we have people in the program now who are going to be suddenly without a job.”
One of Villanueva’s Ph.D. students is supported by an NIH training grant that has been indefinitely postponed. Villanueva said anxiety among researchers who face uncertain futures has been an immediate impact of the Trump administration’s policies.
Researchers who spoke with lawmakers Monday said another implication of shrinking research funding is the risk of so-called “brain drain,” when skilled professionals leave an area or country for another. Researchers leaving Pittsburgh — and the United States more broadly — for China came up repeatedly.
“China is increasing their spending in this area by more than any other area,” said Rep. Steele. Lawmakers worried about the economic impact of promising young scientists fleeing Pittsburgh for China and taking their innovative ideas with them.
Dr. Oliver Eickelberg, vice chair for academic affairs at the school of medicine, said China is already outpacing American institutions in the number of research publications last year. Eickelberg is the editor of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) research journal, which he said has historically been dominated by American and western research papers, with about 80% of research coming from the west. But last year, China alone accounted for more than 60% of papers published in the journal.
Eickelberg said the United States is pulling back on its biomedical research as China ramps up investment in the sector.
“We’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg. A tidal wave is coming,” he said. “In two years, China will dominate the publication market, the biotechnology sector, and all of the talent pools in the world if we make a misstep now.”
Eickelberg and other Pitt leaders sat down with lawmakers to talk about how to rally support from the public to keep medical research funded. Most legislators said Pitt needs to stand beside other research institutions and inform the public about what they do.
“We’re talking about people's heart medication. We're talking [about] fighting Alzheimer's disease,” Rep. Steele said. “This is going to be a tidal wave of disaster for this country, and we've got to get on top of it and stop it.”
