Funding and policy

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Stories about research grants, funding models and the business of science

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Expediting clinical trials for profound autism: Q&A with Matthew State

Aligning Research to Impact Autism, a new initiative funded by the Sergey Brin Family Foundation, wants to bring basic science discoveries to the clinic faster.

By Lauren Schenkman
24 April 2025 | 8 min read
NIH building cut by a red line, a section of the building falls out of the frame.

Proposed NIH budget cut threatens ‘massive destruction of American science’

A leaked draft of a Trump administration proposal includes an approximately 40 percent cut to the National Institutes of Health’s budget and a major reorganization of its 27 institutes and centers.

By Angie Voyles Askham
17 April 2025 | 3 min read
People help each other climb up a supersized human brain.

As federal funders desert mentorship programs for marginalized students, trainee-led initiatives fill the gap

Grassroots organizations, led by graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, are stepping up to provide neuroscience career training and guidance for students from marginalized backgrounds—and they need your support.

By Christian Cazares, Maribel Patiño
11 April 2025 | 5 min read
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Exclusive: NIH nixes funds for several pre- and postdoctoral training programs

Many of the axed grants support scientists from underrepresented communities.

By Claudia López Lloreda
8 April 2025 | 9 min listen
Coins flow from a spigot.

Newly awarded NIH grants for neuroscience lag 77 percent behind previous nine-year average

Since President Donald Trump took office on 20 January, the National Institute of Neurological Disease and Stroke and the National Institute of Mental Health have awarded one quarter as many new grants as during the same two-month period, on average, since 2016.

By Natalia Mesa
4 April 2025 | 5 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Image of alpha-synuclein filaments in the brain.

Large study links autism to Parkinson’s disease

Autistic adults appear to be prone to an early-onset form of Parkinson’s, according to a long-term study that tracked 2.2 million people in Sweden.

By Charles Q. Choi
5 June 2025 | 4 min read

What do neuroscientists mean when they use the term ‘representation’?

A group of neuroscientists and philosophers discuss the use and misuse of the term "representation" across the cognitive sciences and how it influences the way we interpret the connection between neural, behavioral and mental activity.

By Paul Middlebrooks
4 June 2025 | 127 min listen
Research image of neurons in the interpeduncular nucleus.

‘Understudied secret’ in brain dampens nicotine drive in mice

The interpeduncular nucleus produces an aversion to nicotine, even at low doses, and helps moderate how rewarding mice find the drug.

By Lauren Schenkman
4 June 2025 | 4 min read