The HIV reference centre in Ghent is losing more than €1.3 million in American subsidies. The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is suspending its funding for foreign collaborations because it wants to review the conditions.
The HIV reference centre affiliated with UZ Gent university hospital conducts research into HIV treatments and participates in international studies to develop and improve HIV medication. Four major collaborative projects run by the centre are at risk of being halted due to the NIH’s decision to suspend funding. The NIH funds international medical research. “That funding has been stopped overnight, very abruptly,” Linos Vandekerckhove, director of the centre, told Radio 1’s De Ochtend. The agency “has noticed that some recipients are not reporting accurately on the funding they have received”. It intends to develop a new funding structure and is temporarily suspending all funding for both domestic and foreign partners.
The funding is being suspended without any consideration of the progress and results of the scientific research. The plug has simply been pulled
According to Vandekerckhove, the NIH is giving its US research partners a choice. “The government is asking them whether they can continue the research without their European partners. If they answer ‘yes’, they will receive their share of the funding. If they answer ‘no’, the funding will be stopped completely,” he said. “The funding is being suspended without any consideration of the progress and results of the scientific research. The plug has simply been pulled.”
This has a huge impact, not only for the centre, where researchers are at risk of losing their jobs, but also for patients. The centre monitors the treatment of people living with HIV. “Research on these blood samples is now at risk of coming to a standstill,” Vandekerckhove said. The decision is also expected to affect funding for neurological and clinical research at KU Leuven and VUB.
“I have not yet received any official communication, but I fear the worst,” said Professor Frank Bosmans, who is affiliated with the VUB. “Finding new funding takes time, and putting research on hold while you follow up on patients is not something you can just do.” Vandekerckhove has asked the rectors of the universities to discuss the issue within the Flemish Interuniversity Council, and UGent will consider how it can adapt internally to the removal of funding. “Without intervention from the government or the university, we will have to lay off staff at the centre,” he says.