STAT+: From pandemic preparedness to precious frozen spit, NIH contract terminations cut deep
DOGE lists just over 400 NIH contracts it says have been cancelled under its directive to reduce contract spending by 35%
Jay Tischfield prides himself on his long track record of cellular custodianship. As the founding director of the Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey at Rutgers University, he maintains one of the largest university-based DNA banks in the world — much of it, on behalf of the U.S. government. Starting about three decades ago, the National Institutes of Health began outsourcing the storage and distribution of samples from several nationwide studies to Tischfield and his network of finely tuned freezers.
Among the millions of samples he oversees are about 23,000 tubes of frozen spit collected from Americans suffering from psychiatric and substance use disorders over 15 months in the early 2010s. Back then, Tischfield’s team extracted the DNA from cells floating in those saliva samples and began to decode it. Scientists have since used that information to track alcohol and drug consumption trends in the U.S. and find genetic connections between substance use and mental health conditions like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The DNA data from the project, called NESARC-III, are housed online in an NIH repository available to researchers all over the world. But the physical specimens — the raw material backups — exist in only one place: at Rutgers with Tischfield. They were supposed to stay there, for a few more years, at least. But as deep cuts to the NIH’s contracting budget start to take effect, the future of this valuable resource is now in doubt.
Late last week, Tischfield received an email from the NIH informing him that his five-year, $676,000 contract for storing the NESARC-III samples was being terminated early. He has not yet received any instructions on what to do with all that precious frozen spit.
“At this time, I have no idea as to the disposition of these valuable samples or whether an appeal is allowed,” he told STAT in an email.
