On July 7, 2025, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Policy for Extramural Research issued NOT-OD-25-128, titled “Guidance on Enforcement of Closeout Requirements During the Appeals Process” (the Notice). The...more
Welcome to our second issue of The Academic Advisor for 2025. In this edition, we cover the following topics of interest for schools, institutions of higher education, and other education-focused organizations: - the...more
The proposed cuts would place a 15% indirect cost rate on all new and existing grant awards received by research institutions and universities....more
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) published guidance late on Feb. 7, 2025, setting the indirect cost rate for NIH grants at 15 percent, replacing the negotiated indirect cost rates at many universities, which typically...more
Scientist and pharmaceutical researcher Andrew P. Mallon—who first reported to NIH and others in 2016 his suspicions that then-Athira Pharma CEO Leen Kawas falsified data in published papers—filed the whistleblower suit...more
In 2023, after two years of study, an NIH task force proposed a series of recommendations to improve stewardship of research it funds, including that the agency adopt “stopping rules” that would allow poorly designed or low...more
New York Medical College (NYMC) officials thought the HHS Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) audit was wrapping up in December 2021, based on what “the original senior auditor” told them. But the auditor retired and work...more
Report on Research Compliance 20, no. 11 (November, 2023) City University of New York (CUNY ) has accused neuroscientist Hoau-Yan Wang, a CUNY faculty member and longtime collaborator with embattled biotech firm Cassava...more
On September 15, 2023, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) moved forward with a controversial new policy requiring foreign subrecipients to provide, at least once per year, copies of lab notebooks, data and documentation...more
Report on Research Compliance 19, no. 10 (October, 2022) - Beginning Oct. 1, Renee Wegrzyn will be the first permanent director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), the new HHS agency modeled...more
Stay on top of the latest in research compliance - Do you want to learn: - Current best practices for building and maintaining a research compliance work plan? - How to better shift your program’s research focus in...more
Report on Research Compliance 19, no.8 (August, 2022) - An audit of San Francisco State University (SFSU) by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Inspector General (OIG) that tested more than $1.9 million of...more
Report on Research Compliance 19, no. 7 (July, 2022) - Given the already “heavy …burden” faced by small institutions and the National Science Foundation's (NSF) low award rate, the Council on Governmental Relations (COGR)...more
The NIH is Soliciting Research on How Cannabinoid Signaling Influences Cancer Biology - There is a recognized need for more research on how cannabis derivatives can be used for therapeutic purposes. As part of a growing...more
Thank you for reading the May 2022 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter. This month, we discuss Spotify's exploration into NFTs, two new USPTO policies with practical implications for trademark applicants...more
Report on Research Compliance 19, no. 5 (May, 2022) - In an address at George Mason University in February, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said the government had “heard concerns from the civil rights...more
Report on Research Compliance 19, no. 1 (January, 2022) - Although a continuing resolution is now in place that funds the federal government through Feb. 18, committees are still working on bills that could contain...more
Report on Research Compliance 18, no. 10 (October, 2021) - An audit by the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the National Human Genome Research Institute’s (NHGRI) pre-award risk assessment process concluded that...more
Report on Research Compliance 18, no. 9 (September, 2021) - A former Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researcher who was the principal investigator on a 2014 NIH award of $939,495.27 and...more
Report on Research Compliance 18, no. 8 (August, 2021) - “As a steward of the nation’s biomedical research enterprise, NIH is dedicated to ensuring that when data and biospecimens are shared, that it is done ethically and...more
Report on Research Compliance 18, no. 4 (April 2021) - A new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine examining the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic found “intensified complications related...more
Report on Research Compliance 18, no. 1 (January 2021) - The National Science Foundation (NSF) will be accepting comments on a revised version of its Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) expected to be...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) recently announced that it reached a $5,500,000 settlement with a biomedical research institute that received NIH grant funding–the Van Andel Research Institute (VARI)–to resolve allegations...more
Report on Research Compliance 17, no. 2 (January 23, 2020) - Acting with “deliberate ignorance” and “reckless disregard” are not words that any institution wants to hear associated with its name. But these are at the heart...more
Research universities have increasingly become targets for False Claims Act actions, both by private plaintiffs and by the government. Because the FCA began as a statute focused on government procurement and has only more...more