However, a scientist at Washington University shared an email with the Post-Dispatch from Dr. Mark Lowe, the university’s vice chancellor for research, which offered a glimpse into the current confusion and challenges facing many in academia.
In the email sent Monday to faculty and students across campus, Lowe described studies that had already been quashed and how funding for studies already underway could even be in jeopardy.
“Thank you for working together with us during this time, which I know is challenging for many of you,” he wrote.
Staff at key federal agencies have paused all communication so they can ensure that research activities comply with Trump’s executive orders, including orders to recognize only two genders, reject clean energy efforts and restrict diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) initiatives.
Nationwide health datasets have disappeared from the web pages of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with some reappearing with missing information, researchers are discovering. “CDC’s website is being modified to comply with Trump’s Executive Orders” reads a banner at the top of home pages.
A weekly publication by the CDC that provides the latest information and guidelines on threats such as infectious diseases, environmental hazards and injuries was released for the first time Thursday since Trump took office but lacked information about the bird flu outbreak.
The National Institutes of Health — which has an annual budget of more than $47 billion and is the largest single public funder of biomedical research in the world — has ceased approval of grants as well as any communications with researchers since Jan. 21. Some meetings appear to be slowly beginning this week.
NIH grants fund materials for research as well as the salaries of scientists, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows conducting the studies.
“To take down the NIH is pretty much a takedown of all medical research,” said Leah Shaffer, who writes about university research and is a board member for the National Association of Science Writers. “It’s an apocalyptic event.”
Even studies that have already been approved and are underway are grinding to a halt, Shaffer said, as little can be done while communication with federal partners such as the NIH is paused. NIH staff houses shared data among study locations, coordinates efforts among the locations and plans next steps.
“If you can’t talk to the feds, then you really can’t do the work,” she said. “The entire scientific infrastructure of our country is just straight up getting stopped.”
The Trump administration has also offered buyouts to 2.3 million federal civilian workers in a push to drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce, leaving those who rely on expert guidance fearful of a possible exodus of experience.
Despite the major impacts, universities across the country and locally have largely been quiet. Requests by the Post-Dispatch to speak directly with medical researchers were denied, and media spokespeople instead issued general statements.
This includes Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, which for the past two years has ranked No. 2 in NIH funding across the country. In 2024, the school received more than $732 million — its highest amount yet and a majority of the nearly $902 million in NIH funds that went to institutions across Missouri.
“Washington University is closely monitoring the situation and working to understand potential impacts to our programs,” read the one-sentence statement the university sent by the medical school’s media relations director Jessica Church.
Clayton Berry, assistant vice president of communications for St. Louis University, said in an email: “SLU is thoughtfully analyzing each directive and development, and the university remains committed to supporting its researchers and scholars and their important work.”
The University of Missouri School of Medicine referred interview requests to Christopher Ave, spokesman for the entire university, who sent an email stating the university is “monitoring the situation closely.”
“The university is committed to following federal and state law and guidelines, and we have asked our researchers to continue their work until and unless they are told to stop,” he wrote.
In Lowe’s email to WashU researchers, he explained how once grant funding from a federal agency is approved, the university has to submit requests to the agency for reimbursement as costs are incurred, which could be denied.
“The agency approves the reimbursement if it aligns with current federal guidance and then remits the funds to WashU,” Lowe wrote.
Some federal agencies have already sent “stop work orders” to WashU investigators, ordering them to pause all DEIA and gender identity activities and expenditures, the email revealed.
“Even if you have not been directly notified by your federal sponsor, you may want to consider temporarily halting DEIA and gender identity activities paused by the Executive Orders,” Lowe warned. “Any costs incurred related to these activities after January 20, 2025, are at risk of not being reimbursed by federal agencies.”
Other federally funded research should continue, unless scientists receive a stop work order, he stated. If uncertain, they should reach out to their “program officers.”
Because of lawsuits challenging the legality of the executive orders that have been filed, Lowe added, “we expect to continue operating in a scenario where new guidance may come quickly and be rescinded.”
Lowe promised to monitor developments and keep researchers updated.
Shaffer said she is speaking out because one of the main goals of science writers association is to fight for the free flow of science news.
“As a board member, I feel it’s my job to protect free and open communication in science and public health,” she said. “It’s a five-alarm fire, and I’m very mad for public health right now.”
Shaffer’s association has put out a statement warning that the current state of confusion is harmful to the free flow of information vital to innovation.
“Further pauses and funding cuts could have devastating impacts down the line for public health, medical and scientific research, local economies and the lives of trainees and patients,” the statement read.
She understands why universities, whose priority is to protect students and their research, are cautious about commenting publicly on federal policy changes. Conditions could quickly change.
“It’s something of a protective measure. In times of chaos, it’s not bad to be quiet and sit and watch,” Shaffer said. “Institutions are in an awkward place because they don’t want to cause panic, and they don’t want to put themselves in the corner or a spotlight.”
The American Association of University Professors urges campus leaders not to practice “anticipatory obedience,” its executive director, Mia McIver, says.
“These executive orders function as trial balloons from the Trump administration to see which areas of our civil society will be compliant and which areas will not,” McIver told Inside Higher Ed, an online news publication for the higher education community.
Not resisting, she said, could allow the Trump administration to “commandeer the educational mission of colleges and universities by having a chilling effect and intimidating faculty, staff and students.”
Trump freeze is over. St. Louis industries still worry.
The Trump administration freeze of federal funding ended last week. But the confusion it caused reverberates across science and research in St. Louis, a hub of crop and biosciences.
©2025 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
