URI warns microplastics research could be at risk if NIH funding cut approved

URI warns microplastics research could be at risk if NIH funding cut approved

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Neuroscience Professor Jaime Ross has been studying the effects of microplastics on the brains of mice. In 2023, she told 12 News she had found a disturbing result: microplastics had managed to get past the blood-brain barrier. "Its function is to keep bad things out, so viruses, bacteria," she said. "It should be selective for things like this. But here it is." Using mice, Ross said research suggests this kind of expos…

NIH funding changes could cost millions to St. Louis region

ST. LOUIS - Scientists around St. Louis worry their medical research will lose key funding as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced changes on how finance grants can be received.  Companies and institutions in Missouri were awarded more than 1,500 NIH grants in 2024, and 1,192 of those went to Washington University—a worth of $732 million.  However, a new cap on grant funding for “indirect costs” could cost the university millions of…