The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced that it has terminated gain-of-function research in line with President Donald Trump’s May executive order on the subject.
A notice posted by the NIH is to “inform the biomedical research community of the following actions NIH is taking and requiring in response to guidance received from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy pursuant to the May 5, 2025 Executive Order on Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research.”
Effective immediately, the agency will “terminate funding and other support for projects, including unfunded collaborations/projects, meeting the definition of dangerous gain-of-function research conducted by foreign entities in countries of concern or foreign countries where there is not adequate oversight” and suspend “all other funding and other support for projects, including unfunded collaborations/projects, meeting the definition of dangerous gain-of-function research at least until implementation of the new policy.”
NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya announced the termination in a statement on social media, declaring, “No scientific project is worth the risk of causing a pandemic.”
President Trump’s executive order says that gain-of-function research “has the potential to significantly endanger the lives of American citizens.”
“If left unrestricted, its effects can include widespread mortality, an impaired public health system, disrupted American livelihoods, and diminished economic and national security. The Biden Administration allowed dangerous gain-of-function research within the United States with insufficient levels of oversight,” the order reads, going on to call for the end of federal funding for “other life-science research that is occurring in countries of concern or foreign countries where there is not adequate oversight to ensure that the countries are compliant with United States oversight standards and policies and that could reasonably pose a threat to public health, public safety, and economic or national security,” as determined by the heads of relevant agencies.”
