U of M, Mayo feeling federal budget cuts

ST. PAUL, MN (AP) — Some scientists at two of Minnesota’s top research institutions say they’re spending more time chasing money than working in their labs as they try to make up for federal funding cuts.

Minnesota Public Radio reports the University of Minnesota and Mayo Clinic are among institutions nationwide dealing with $1.7 billion cuts to the National Institutes of Health budget.

For people like Gary Balas, a university professor of aeronautical engineering, it’s meant cancellation of a three-year contract with the Air Force that helped fund his research on flight control systems. For the university’s Stem Cell Institute, it meant a 40 percent cut over six months.

At Mayo Clinic, it will mean fewer meetings with Olmsted County residents in a big study on aging.