The May 2008 issue of The Scientist profiled Society member Alan Schneyer, PhD, and discussed the impact of low NIH funding on his research career and the careers of many other researchers who entered the field after the National Institutes of Health (NIH) doubling period. Dr. Schneyer's research at Massachusetts General Hospital focused on the idea that a protein with a suspected reproductive function could also have a significant effect on glucose metabolism. The NIH had supported this research since 1999. In 2006, however, his grant renewal that would have allowed him to continue his research and maintain the staff in his lab had been returned without review. As a result, Dr. Schneyer was forced to close his lab and has since been conducting research at Pioneer Valley Life Sciences in Springfield, Mass.

According to the article, many scientists have suffered a similar fate, as funding rates for new grants plunged from nearly 20 percent in 1999 to only nine percent in 2005. In 1999, 8,957 R01 grant applications were submitted, and 1,761 grants were awarded.  By 2005, the number of applications rose to 10,605, but only 970 grants were awarded. A similar decline was seen among renewal applications during the same time period.

The Scientist article can be found at:

http://www.thescientist.com/2008/5/1/32/1/