Survey: 25% of NIH-Funded Labs Have Cut Staff Amid Funding Crisis

A national survey of nearly 1,000 NIH-funded researchers published March 19 by STAT reveals the human toll of the deepening federal biomedical funding crisis. More than 25 percent of respondents have laid off lab staff. Over 40 percent canceled planned research projects. Two-thirds now advise their students to pursue careers outside academia.

The Numbers Behind the Crisis

Halfway through fiscal year 2026, NIH has awarded 74 percent fewer competitive grants than the average for the same period across FY2021–2024. Overall grant success rates have fallen to approximately 17 percent — the lowest in nearly three decades. Early-stage investigator success rates collapsed from 29.8 percent in FY2023 to 18.5 percent in FY2025.

Three converging forces created the bottleneck: an OMB spending freeze that delayed obligations, a new multiyear forward-funding policy estimated to eliminate 970 competing grants in FY2026, and cascading staff losses from Schedule Policy/Career reclassifications that stripped job protections from grant-making employees.

Labs Are Closing, Careers Are Ending

The survey documents researchers scaling back ambitions, closing labs permanently, and reducing staff pay — one scientist accepted a 95 percent pay cut to retain employees. A diabetes prevention study lost participants. UCLA researcher Steve Shoptaw, whose center contracted by 40 percent, told STAT: "This is like the Titanic hitting the iceberg. The ship is sinking."

Only 35 percent of researchers whose grants were cut or delayed experienced full restoration, despite court reversals and congressional action to reject proposed NIH budget cuts. For 81 percent of junior tenure-track researchers, the disruptions may jeopardize their tenure cases.

What Biomedical Researchers Should Do Now

Diversify funding sources immediately. DOE, NSF, and DOD all fund biological and health-adjacent research. Private foundations like the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative have expanded biomedical portfolios. Researchers using grantedai.com to track alternative funding pathways should explore cross-agency opportunities now rather than waiting for NIH to stabilize.

For strategic guidance on navigating the NIH funding crisis, visit the Granted blog.