"NIH is given till April 8 ... for a 35% cut in services." This isn't entirely correct, and it matters enormously for getting NIH science done. A quick 🧵: 1/ - NIH has many scientists, many senior, who work as contract employees. www.statnews.com/202... 🧪 - ThreadSky

markhisted.org • 18 days ago

"NIH is given till April 8 ... for a 35% cut in services."

This isn't entirely correct, and it matters enormously for getting NIH science done. A quick 🧵: 1/
-
NIH has many scientists, many senior, who work as contract employees.

https://www.statnews.com/2025/04/03/nih-35-percent-cut-contracts-trump-administration/ 🧪

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danimx.bsky.social•18 days ago

HEY DOGE ELIMINATE $800 BILLION FROM THE PENTAGON & ALL UR WASTEFUL FRAUD BULLSHIT WELFARE QUEEN CONTRACTS AS WELL!!!!! THEN WE CAN DEPORT YOU BACK TO NOTZILAND!!!!!🥱

williamharrisfrank.bsky.social•18 days ago

My neighbor was a senior scientist contractor at NIH. They fired him with an email. He’s suffering from cancer.

markhisted.org•18 days ago

NIH has a million ways to hire people: for ex, civil service title 42, GS, fellows, SES, .... and contractors.

The contract category involves people who, yes, 'provide services' to NIH, but often those contract scientists are in the lab and are critical parts of the science.

markhisted.org•18 days ago

My group does neuroscience expts, using split laser beams, to study the brain's distributed, mixed codes. We also use #AI and math. networks. We aim to understand how neural nets process info—to understand causes of brain variation. It’s high-risk.

V related: @deisseroth.bsky.social &Marshel

markhisted.org•18 days ago

Our approach req. many diff skills. We have 4 contract scientists, some w/ PhDs, that work w/ my group and help others too. Each works on multiple projects, often at front. Several help with optical engineering for laser work. Some support opsin and protein tests.

Each has pub'd scientific papers.

markhisted.org•18 days ago

Suddenly take out just 1 person w/ thr specialized expertise—that they were uniquely recruited for and have spent many years training on—and many other scientists stop being able to do *their* work. That's true for all labs, really. At NIH and at universities. Hiring timelines in science are long.

markhisted.org•18 days ago

Beyond contract scientists, contract employees at NIH do essential support work. Some manage computers that collect data or run models, some ensure we have reagents, some ensure we follow laws and protect pub money, and some do molecular biology/PCR/genotyping. So many are critical.

markhisted.org•18 days ago

Science groups use specialized approaches and are always under-resourced, oft getting along on a shoestring.

NIH is no different. And university labs are like this too.

Grantee labs benefit from NIH contracts: databases, shared resources that work w/ univ. labs, and IT all depend on contracts.

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