Hey there Brainiacs! Alie Astrocyte here. As you probably already know I'm not
just a smiling face on YouTube. I'm also an active scientist studying
cellular neurobiology. I'm also an American with family members coping with
a variety of medical and mental health conditions so issues that directly
affect how scientific research is conducted and how that leads directly to
advancing medicine are really important to me. That's why we recently made a
couple of videos talking about the president's proposed budget cuts that
would reduce NIH funding and highlighting the way scientists here at
UC San Diego and across the country are using government funding. Here are Neuro
Transmissions we were happy to see that Congress rejected those cuts and in fact
gave the NIH an additional two billion dollars in funding for 2017 but
unfortunately and it doesn't end there. The president's updated budget proposal
for 2018 plans to cut six billion dollars in NIH funding. That's almost 20%
of the total budget. Members of the administration are defending these cuts
by saying that it won't affect direct research funding but will instead target
overhead payments. They say that these fees paid to universities and institutions
are inefficient and wasteful but overhead payments aren't waste. They're
actually literally what keeps the lights on. Can I get a little more funding? Thank you!
Trying to justify major cuts to the NIH budget by saying that it'll simply
reduce indirect cost shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how
American scientific research and business in general works so today let's
talk about what lawmakers mean when they say overhead cost and what that money is
actually paying for. See when scientists receive NIH funding for research that
money pays for a bunch of different things. First and foremost the majority
of the funding - over 70% - goes towards direct cost this covers pretty much
everything that you would intuitively guess that a grant would pay for
It pays for salaries for lab personnel, buys equipment and supplies, and funds
travel to conferences to share data and collaborate with colleagues. This is the
money that the individual investigator - the person who submitted the grant -
spends on the research project that they propose in their application. On top of
that researchers receive money that goes towards overhead expenses called
facilities and administrative or F&A costs. Since scientists can't just do their
research in their own garage they have to work within a university or
institution and just like a bakery or a bank, the scientist has to pay for
that space. These F&A costs are what allow the scientist and the university
to work together to provide the necessary environment and resources for
top-notch scientific research. Facilities costs pay for things you might take for
granted like utilities, internet service, animal housing and care, janitorial staff
data storage, waste disposal, security and various other expenses related to
maintaining and running research facilities. Administrative costs cover a
lot of the important paperwork and safety regulations of the institution
like chemical safety training, implementing policies to protect human,
participants and research animals, tracking grant budgeting and purchasing,
providing mandated training resources, and all of the things that are needed to
keep research facilities in compliance with federal regulations. All of those
resources cost money and research institutions rely on federal funding to
help cover those costs to make sure that research is conducted safely and
ethically while producing the best results possible. Defenders of the new
budget cuts have pointed out that while private philanthropic organizations
usually only pay about 10% overhead cost, the federal government generally pays
more, usually around 30%. Why should the government pay so, much the argument goes
when private groups pay so little? But these numbers don't come out of a hat
Individual universities and facilities negotiate directly with the US
government through the Office of Management and Budget to determine what
their overhead payment should be. Federal overhead costs can range from 20 percent
to 85 percent of the direct cost to account for differences in the cost of
doing business in different cities and states and these rates
have to adhere the federal accounting regulations and this funding is really
critical because federal funding has traditionally paid for the majority of
biomedical research. In the 60s and 70s, the government funded over 70% of
American science before rates began dropping off reaching an all-time low of
44 percent in 2015. As federal funding has dropped research institutions have
started to make up some of the difference because private organizations
just don't provide enough funding on their own. They only make up a fraction
of the money being spent on research. Basically, because of the way the
research system has been set up universities have to rely on federal
funding of overhead costs to be able to afford everything they need. Private
organizations don't provide enough funding to make up the difference it's
already been a struggle for many institutions. Even though it's gotten
more expensive to do research in America over the last two decades the level of
overhead payments has remained consistent, so universities are footing
more and more of the FAA bill on their own
This means higher tuition for students lower salaries for staff and
unfortunately, slowing the speed of research. Without any system in place to
help shift the expense and burden of F&A costs, a blanket 10% cap on overhead
payments would make it incredibly difficult for researchers to continue
their work. It's pretty hard to handle dangerous chemicals if your safety
equipment isn't functioning and it's difficult to make sure research animals
are being properly cared for if you can't afford to hire people to care for
them. So even though overhead cost sound kind of nebulous this funding has a
really important and vital place in supporting American scientific research
it's important for scientists, lawmakers, and the public to keep having
conversations about the ways we can make research more efficient to quickly
develop new medical treatments and cures but it'll take time and careful analysis
to figure out the best approach. America has been a world leader in science and
technology for decades and if we continue to support the NIH and American
scientists through increased funding and public awareness we can keep up with
great tradition for generations to come. That's what will
truly build a foundation for American greatness. If you'd like to help make
sure that scientists can keep the lights on, there are a few things that you can
do. First, call your congressional representatives and ask them to help
American science grow and thrive by pushing to increase NIH funding not
cutting it. You can also share this video on social media to help your friends and
family learn about the importance of overhead payments. Finally, if you're able
consider donating to an organization like the Foundation for the National
Institute of Health, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the
NIH's scientific mission, or the American Association for the Advancement
of Science, who are working to encourage lawmakers and taxpayers to support
scientific research funding. Head down to the description for more resources,
calling scripts and information about how to contact your representative
Finally I'd like to say a huge thank you to Andrea Hartzel, Natalie Goldberg
and Gabriel Pratt who are all biomedical scientists at UC San Diego, for their
help with this video. They are all vocal advocates for science in America and are
hard at work developing more resources for scientists and students to get
involved in science policy here at UCSD. Thanks for watching this episode of
Neuro Transmissions. If you liked it, please hit that thumbs up button and
subscribe to catch more videos about the ins and outs of scientific research. If
you really loved it, please consider supporting us on Patreon - your support is
what makes these videos possible. Until our next transmission, I'm Alie Astrocyte.
Over and out!