Contact: Julie Kiefer, Director, Research Communications, julie.kiefer@hsc.utah.edu
On Tuesday, March 12, the University of Utah received notice that the National Institutes of Health had terminated funding for the Utah Clinical and Translational Science Institute, effective immediately. Utah CTSI was in the second year of a $38 million, seven-year CTSA UM1 grant. The U and Utah CTSI are working with legal experts to appeal the decision.
Utah CTSI accelerates the journey of discoveries from bench to bedside, bringing new treatments to patients and communities who need them. As the Mountain West’s hub for research, Utah CTSI maintains a biorepository of 557,000 samples and supported over 5,000 projects in 2024. This included 550 clinical trials that reached nearly 7,000 people. The goal of these efforts is to improve the health of people in a five-state region, with a focus on bringing advanced care to rural and frontier communities.
Utah CTSI projects include:
- Using innovative whole genome sequencing technologies to hasten diagnosis and treatment of critically ill newborns in rural communities.
- Creating custom interventions to lower disproportionately high skin cancer rates in rural communities.
- Developing video games to help young adults with heart disease learn to manage their complex healthcare needs.
- Investigating distribution of an emerging fungal pathogen to understand the spread of Valley Fever in the Mountain West.
- Using stem cells to discover genetic mutations underlying pediatric bipolar disorder.
Utah CTSI recharge centers, cores, and training programs remain operational at this time. The institute is committed to addressing the current situation and continuing its mission of translating academic research into benefits for people in Utah and the surrounding region.