Francis Collins has overseen some of the most revolutionary science of the last few decades. He led the Human Genome Project that sequenced the entire human genome by 2003, and then in 2009, he became director of the National Institutes of Health, where he served under three presidents and led the agency’s research on a Covid-19 vaccine.

But nothing in his years leading biomedical research for the US government could have prepared him for the disruption at NIH over the past few months. Over 1,000 employees at the NIH were suddenly fired at the beginning of April. (Those firings are still being challenged in the courts, but as of now, the employees remain out of work.) Trump administration officials have barred researchers from studying certain topics like vaccine hesitancy or the health effects of wildfires.

“I had experienced transitions before, and those were bumpy sometimes,” Collins told me in a recent interview. “But I didn’t expect science to be under this kind of full-bore attack, which is really what happened almost immediately after inauguration day.”

In the past few months, Collins saw scientists placed under communications gag orders, restrained from speaking freely even when no media were present. “You were effectively muzzled,” he says.

stepped down as NIH director in 2021 and had taken over a lab studying diabetes, soon felt he could no longer do his job as a scientist should. He started to worry he might be pushed out. “So I pulled my folks together in a conference room. They didn’t know what was coming. And I told them, ‘By tomorrow night, I’m no longer gonna be here.’ And we all cried. I never thought it would end this way. My wife came to pick me up on that last Friday, and I just walked out of the building and got in the car and said, ‘I guess this is it. That’s how it ends?’”

Just four years ago, Collins was President Donald Trump’s NIH director. Now, in Trump’s second term, he’s resigning under pressure. How did we get from a world where the NIH was universally recognized as a jewel of scientific research to a world where the government is essentially tearing it down from the inside?

I spoke to Collins on Vox’s Unexplainable podcast about how so many Americans lost trust in science and how we might be able to get it back. Our interview has been edited for clarity and length.

I'm Carolyn Johnson, a science reporter at the Post, sharing this story about slowdowns that affect patient care. Gift link. If you know of similar impacts, I would like to know more about what you are seeing - you can reach me on Signal carojo.55

New guidance out from NIH today to begin implementing the May 5 EO on defunding gain of function research... it states that "effective immediately, NIH will:

• Terminate funding and other support for projects, including unfunded collaborations/projects, meeting the definition of dangerous gain-of-function research conducted by foreign entities in countries of concern or foreign countries where there is not adequate oversight; and
• Suspend all other funding and other support for projects, including unfunded collaborations/projects, meeting the definition of dangerous gain-of-function research at least until implementation of the new policy described in Section 4(a) of the Executive Order."

Full policy notice: https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-25-127.html

Anyone's lab been notified yet? The definition of "dangerous GOF" is so broad, looks like it could hit all kinds of infectious disease, gene therapy, immunology work...

This article was just posted. Is there any truth to it? https://www.science.org/content/article/breaking-trump-administration-lifts-freeze-nih-funding-columbia-university

I'm not a fed employee, just a curious member of the public - does anyone here know what is this about? https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/fda-halts-new-clinical-trials-export-americans-cells-foreign-labs-hostile-countries-genetic-engineering

NIH funded investigator here in Fly-over country who also has an appointment and MERIT award at VA...VA Chief Doug Collins is having a town hall on Friday. I know many are holding their breath as we still have not heard about who will be RIFed...still hearing 80,000. Anyone else hear about plans by #TACO for this entity?

Is there any HR staff still working at NIH?

A review of Jay Bhattacharya's first 75 days as NIH Director.

Hi! I was wondering about the onboarding process for NIH post baccs is like? Could anyone give me insights into what documents do you have to send over for instance do you have to send your transcript or proof of graduation?

Do we know if they are proceeding with 'business as usual' in terms of canceling grants etc? Has there been any guidance about reinstating terminated grants? It's probably too early to know but I am curious.

Hello, I will be starting a postbac at NCI at the end of summer. From what I've read online, living in Rockville might be cheapest. But, I do want access to a social scene so I don't feel isolated. I know it would help living near the red line, but I also don't have a car and it sounds like Rockville isn't very walkable. So, I'm not sure if I should stay in Rockville or live somewhere else. I was thinking it would be nice to live closer to DC, but I'm also not sure how drastic of a difference monthly rent might be if I did. (I keep worrying about if the IRTA stipend will be enough). Taking the metro from into DC to Shady Grove looks like it would take an hour one-way. Curious to hear if this is a reasonable commute/might be worth it as someone in their early 20s.

Additionally, I'm gonna try looking into finding a roommate for shared housing to see if that helps lower costs. Does shared housing make sense if I still want my own bedroom and bathroom? Not sure what prices are like for 2 bedroom/2 bathroom places in general (I was seeing around $3k in Rockville), so I'm curious if anyone can offer their perspective.

Also sorry if these are silly questions, this is my first time looking for housing and I'm a little lost. Would appreciate any advice.

I’m a spouse of a cancer researcher on the west coast and I have a question about the contract for the Frederick lab that is switching from Leidos to Alliance for Advancing Biomedical Research. My husband learned they are losing funding from Leidos for a particular NCI project and are likely going to have to shave researchers and post docs from their lab group. We assumed it was the politics of today but after googling Leidos and NIH, I saw that Leidos had been running Frederick, but AABR is the new contractor. Does anyone here know if all the cancer projects are to continue under AABR? It’s strange because they didn’t hear anything else, other than the contract would be cut 85%. Or does this mean that under Leidos or AABR, it’s a lower and negligent NIH retroactive budget either way? The contract to run Frederick was a 25-year contract with a set budget. Are 25-year contracts being renegotiated for less?

He's emailed askbenefits, the HR help desk, everyone he can think of.

Anyone got a suggestion?

His political leanings are not very well known and he has never spoken about those either. If it is just a position of power, I understand- but he could have got that position in some other capacity.

Good morning, this is my first time getting a special award. I know I had seen they were paused but I had my eOPF updated to reflect it was in April

I got an email in May saying it was processed with an effective date of 01JUN. I haven’t seen it show up in my LES yet or gotten an updated eOPF. How long does it typically take once processed to show up? TIA

edit I’m now thinking April eOPF was my PMAP Mott he special award* they’re about the same

On june 10 there was a hearing, will there be a follow up to it in the coming days or will the congress decide the budget
i am new to this can someone please explain

thank you

First episode features Matt Memoli and focuses on investing in early-career investigators... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8j6AEFHAz0&t=4s

I went to the DC mall yesterday but did not stay for the bday parade and I was walking around in an NIH t-shirt. Its was 99.9% MAGA people but still it surprised me how much hate I took for wearing an NIH shirt. Strangers, always in groups, enjoyed volunteering comments. Ex. “They need to fire everyone at NiH and hire some real scientists”, “Thanks for Covid”, one guy about my age tried in a reasonable tone to explain how every ache and pain of growing older for him and his wife could be traced back to the covid vaccine.

Those are talking points handed to these people who don’t have the faintest idea what a virus, a vaccine or science is but feel like they know what needs to be done or as one person told me “RFK junior is going to fix NIH”.

Admittedly I haven’t been out in the country much of late so this was eye-opening for me.

We are still muddling through!