Medical research depends on government money – even a day’s delay in the intricate funding process throws science off-kilter

Of the tens of thousands of grant applications submitted to the National Institutes of Health, only around 1 in 5 is funded. Sean Gladwell/Moment via Getty Images

In the early days of the second Trump administration, a directive to pause all public communication from the Department of Health and Human Services created uncertainty and anxiety among biomedical researchers in the U.S. This directive halted key operations of numerous federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health, including those critical to advancing science and medicine.

These operations included a hiring freeze, travel bans and a pause on publishing regulations, guidance documents and other communications. The directive also suspended the grant review panels that determine which research projects receive funding.