Large NIH projects cut

摘要

Big science is under big pressure at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). Gone are the glory days of the early 2000s, when a doubling of the agency's budget over five years allowed it to establish dozens of programmes with their own large, dedicated budgets. Since March, the mandatory US government cuts known as sequestration have sliced 5% off the NIH's already-tight budget. Now, institute directors are assessing the future of these costly legacy programmes - and shutting some of them down. Given the climate, directors are wondering whether their limited money might be better spent funding competitive grant applications, more than 80% of which are currently denied.