‘Gutted.’ Michigan losing $200M in fed research funding, with more in limbo

• Michigan universities and hospitals are likely to lose at least $200 million in research funding due to federal cuts
• Such cuts leave at least one cancer researcher feeling ‘gutted.’
• Universities have pitched in to help researchers but that help is inadequate and temporary

At Michigan State University, researcher Jamie Bernard is trying to prevent some of the most aggressive and treatment-resistant forms of breast cancer.

But in recent months, she wonders if the federal government wants her to continue that work.

With each passing day, the associate professor feels more “gutted” about the more than $1 million in federal grants — now in limbo — that pay for the work in this cluster of labs that line a white and Spartan-green brick hallway of MSU’s Life Sciences Building. 

She doesn’t have confirmation that her particular federal grants have disappeared, but as President Donald Trump proposes new research cuts while his initial attempts are tied up in court, the grants are “in purgatory, or stuck, where they’re not being reviewed.”

Bernard is among hundreds of researchers whose projects at universities and hospitals have been defunded, pared back or had funding approvals or renewals delayed by the federal government without explanation.

Universities have been hesitant to publicly tally the amount of research dollars lost so far. The most recent estimate, by Citizens Research Council, projects a more than $200 million direct loss for Michigan universities as a result of research grants cuts since Trump took office in January.

Separately, Trump released a budget blueprint on Friday calling for an $18 billion cut  — 40% of its current allocation — for the National Institutes of Health, which fund the majority of research projects in Michigan and other states.

The institute has "grown too big and unfocused," Trump argued in the budget plan, proposing to slash spending on research into areas he ideologically opposes, including climate change and minority health disparities.

While the first round of research funding cuts announced in February are being litigated in court, the federal government has issued stop work orders for many grants, preventing institutions from receiving funds as the Trump administration attempts to rein in national spending. 

Since the coronavirus pandemic, the federal deficit has doubled to nearly $1.8 trillion, while debt has grown 121% in 10 years. Interest payments alone on that debt cost $881 billion this fiscal year — more than the government spends on veterans or children.

Research grants to universities totaled about $60 billion in 2024, about 0.86% of federal spending.

Great Lakes, cancer research in limbo

The estimated $200 million in Michigan research cuts doesn’t include grants for which funding from federal agencies has been paused while under review.

One example is the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR), which has more than $8 million in federal grant renewals in limbo. 

The organization, which is run through the University of Michigan, conducts a wide variety of environmental research including forecasting algae blooms on Lake Erie and Great Lakes ecology.

Federal grants account for 40% of the organization’s budget, and officials say layoffs are imminent for 20 out of 48 employees. 

“Those employees aren’t directly employed by the federal government, but their funding has been choked off by the grants not being renewed,” said Mike Shriberg, associate director of CIGLR. “These are routine renewals that happen on an annual basis. And we’ve not heard a word.”

The layoffs are being delayed at least for a few weeks because U-M is allowing “deficit spending” for those salaries — money U-M will have to write off as a loss if the grants are not approved soon by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

“We’ve not been given a formal date (for layoffs) yet,” Shriberg said. “We’re trying to extend as much as possible.”

In East Lansing, cancer researcher Bernard argues that white-coated lab workers aren’t the only people hurt by the funding cuts. 

“We've done a really good job in the past few decades of coming up with new therapies and medicines, (and) earlier detection strategies that have really saved a lot of lives and have saved a lot of money for Michiganders. We've made great progress,” she told Bridge.

Lab staff, including students that graduate or will move on to their next career step this time of year, can’t be replaced without assurances there will be money to pay their salaries. There’s no way to know whether costs for expensive reagents and lab equipment will continue.

On a recent day, a lab technician was extracting genetic material from cancer cells. The idea is to subject the cells to different tests to identify the complex mix of genetic and environmental or lifestyle factors that contribute to triple negative breast cancer, a type known for its lack of hormone receptors that make treatment difficult.

Ideally, the goal is to prevent the aggressive breast cancer cells before they take hold.

Bernard’s office is packed with artwork from her children and a photo of her family. In the center of one family photo is her mother, diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016. She survived, Bernard said, because of the precision medicine honed by decades of research.

It gives her a personal reason, in addition to her scientific passion, to take a stand for other scientists who may worry that, by speaking out, they could endanger their funding.

Researchers are skittish about speaking publicly about the threats to their work — worried that a hint of dissension might further endanger their funding, Bernard and others have told Bridge, 

“I certainly hope it wouldn't affect my ability to get a grant here in the future, because I've spoken out about it, but I know that that could be a consequence, but I think we have more to lose if we don't speak.” 

Here’s what we know about the status of federal research funding in Michigan:

How much has been lost?

Michigan universities receive about $1 billion per year from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) alone, and current cuts would likely eliminate at least $180 million of that funding, according to the CRC report. 

Beyond NIH cuts, MSU projects it may lose $32 million out of $165 million in Department of Energy research grants.

Michigan entities receive another $240 million annually from the National Science Foundation (NSF), which has also announced cuts. No breakdown was available for how much of that funding state institutions are likely to lose.

What are the reasons for the cuts?

The first round of research cuts by the Trump administration capped “indirect costs” at 15%, down from more than 50% schools like U-M, MSU and Wayne State University had received for work beyond “direct costs.”

Direct costs go to staffing and equipment needed for research; indirect costs help pay for things like laboratories and the buildings those labs are in, utilities, support staff, accounting, safety and compliance with mandatory regulations connected to the grants.

“The United States should have the best medical research in the world,” a letter from the National Institutes of Health announcing the change said. “It is accordingly vital to ensure that as many funds as possible go towards direct scientific research costs rather than administrative overhead.”

In March NIH terminated some grants because they no longer meet “agency priorities.”

Other grants are stalled while they are under review.

What’s the impact in Michigan?

Those familiar with the process acknowledge that the losses are likely to total into nine figures, and that states are ill-equipped to fill the gap.

The Citizens Research Council report projected an economic loss of $456 million from cuts in research grants, with a loss of 2,000 jobs.

The University of Michigan receives the third-most NIH funds among US universities, behind Johns Hopkins University and the University of California San Francisco.

In 2024, U-M received $734 million in NIH grants supporting more than 2,700 separate projects and 4,125 faculty, postdoctoral and graduate students. 

MSU and Henry Ford-MSU Health Science received a total of $110 million in 2024; Wayne State, $73 million, of which $10 million has been cut; Oakland University, $4.7 million; Michigan Technological University, $4.3 million; Western Michigan and its medical school, $2.5 million; and Central Michigan University, $1.9 million.

Hospitals and medical researchers also could be affected, including the Van Andel Research Institute in Grand Rapids ($25 million last year); Henry Ford Health System ($17 million) ; St. Joseph Mercy ($3.3 million); the Corewell Health Beaumont Research Institute ($2.4 million) and Spectrum ($2 million.)

Will the state step in to help?

That’s unlikely. 

State Sen. Sean McCann, a Kalamazoo Democrat who chairs the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on universities and community colleges, told Bridge Michigan that lawmakers have not discussed backfilling the research funding hole created by federal cuts.

The Senate’s budget proposal for the 2025-26 fiscal year recommends an $88 million increase in higher education spending, up 3.8% over the current year. That money would be split between the state’s 15 public universities and 28 community colleges. No money is set aside in the budget for research funding, though universities can choose how to spend their state funding.

“It’s always possible to make those considerations, but it’s not something reflected in the budget I proposed,” McCann said.

There are other federal cuts that would likely take a higher priority for the state, including potentially devastating cuts to federal Medicaid funding, McCann said.

The final budget, which must be approved by Oct. 1, will result from negotiations between the Republican-led House, Democratic-led Senate and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Whitmer’s budget proposal recommended a 4% increase for universities; the House budget proposal has not yet been released.

Rep. Greg Markkanen, R-Hancock, the chair of the House appropriations subcommittee on higher education, did not return a call for comment.

The state doesn’t normally provide research funding. Perry Zielak, a fiscal analyst for the House Fiscal Agency, said no research-specific funds have been allocated by the state for at least eight years.

Are universities helping?

Michigan State University announced in April that it was setting aside $15 million over three years for research defunded by federal cuts, and the University of Michigan is doing the same, though the Ann Arbor total was unclear. That help doesn’t come close to replacing the lost funds and is temporary. At U-M, the funding lasts no more than six months.

In a letter to faculty and staff Monday, MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz said federal research cuts were putting pressure on the university’s overall budget.

“It has also been a challenging year, especially these last four months, as we navigated federal policies and directives that undercut our ability to advance our land-grant mission and continue essential research projects that make life better,” he wrote. “... The next few months of financial planning will be demanding and difficult for some in our community, and we will need to make hard decisions that will impact people we care about."

Wayne State University is holding back some federal grant money from researchers in an effort to stretch out the funds as long as possible.

Can’t the universities tap their endowments?

The majority of endowment donations to universities are tied to specific uses designated by the donor, such as tuition support or university building projects, and thus can’t be easily transferred to save a cancer research project or other similar initiative.

The University of Michigan is one of a handful of institutions that has the financial wherewithal to step in, because it controls one of the largest endowments in the nation, at $19 billion as of June 2024.

Of that, $5.6 billion is unrestricted. The university spends about 4.5% of those unrestricted funds, or $252 million, on general uses each year.

Most universities have much smaller endowments. MSU’s endowment is $4.4 billion, and Wayne State’s is $507 million.