India, July 24 -- Proposed changes to the Uniform Guidance governing federal research grants would expand grounds for suspending or terminating awards based on shifting political or agency priorities, even when projects meet approved scopes.

Scientists fear this instability will disrupt clinical trials, jeopardize graduate training, undermine long-term planning and make ambitious, high-impact research too risky to pursue.

Most Americans don't read the rules that govern the federal grants funding science. Those rules, called the Uniform Guidance, shape how cancer research is funded, graduate students are trained, clinical trials are sustained, universities stock their labs and discoveries from those labs move into broader society.

When ...