NIH Updates K99/R00 Flexibility, Civil Rights Terms, and Gain-of-Function Research

By: Yvette Seger
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Over the past month, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued several policy updates of broad interest to the FASEB community. These include flexibilities for applicants and recipients of NIH Pathway to Independence (K99/R00) awards, rescission of the updated Civil Rights Term and Condition of Award, and the implementation strategy of an Executive Order intended to improve the safety and security of biological research.

In May, NIH announced the short-term extension of Early-Stage Investigator (ESI) eligibility to address delays in grant application submissions, review, and award processing in the first half of the year. On June 12, a comparable extension of eligibility was released for K99/R00 applicants, with eligible individuals receiving automatic extensions of one, two, or three grant-receipt cycles depending on the end date of their original 48-month eligibility period. This followed the May 28 announcement of the temporary exception to the policy precluding mentored career development (K) award recipients from applying for a subsequent K award for individuals whose K awards were prematurely terminated on or after January 1, 2025.

On April 21, NIH issued a Guide notice updating the terms and conditions for all NIH grants, cooperative agreements, and other transaction awards that required awardees to certify that they “do not and will not during the term of the award…operate any programs that advance or promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) or discriminatory equity ideology.” On June 12, the agency issued a Notice rescinding this update, indicating that, “NIH is awaiting further Federal-wide guidance and will provide a future update to the extramural community.”

Lastly, on June 18, NIH issued an updated implementation plan to comply with the Executive Order on Improving the Safety and Security of Biological Research released in May. In addition to establishing June 30, 2025, as the deadline for grantees to review their research portfolios to identify NIH funding and other support for projects defined as dangerous gain-of-function research, the Notice indicated that NIH will be suspending or terminating awards as directed by the Executive Order.