Ben Noren swiped his keycard to enter his window-filled lab at the University of Wyoming.
鈥淲hen you walk into the CellDrop laboratory, there鈥檚 many tiny syringes, vials,鈥� he said, as he closed the door behind him.
Noreen鈥檚 company, , is trying to heal tendon and ligament injuries with stem cells in microscopic droplets.
鈥淭hese are about the width of a human hair, and we can then put them into any sort of tissue to help it heal faster and more effectively,鈥� he explained.
The eager 30-something with blonde shoulder-length ringlets said the goal is eventually to help humans, but the plan is to first roll out the product for injured performance horses, which sometimes have to retire early because of ligament injuries 鈥� though the trials on that product have been put on hold.
鈥淜ind of our worst fears came true,鈥� Noren said.
He thought it was largely research related to climate change or diversity that would be impacted by the , but his company depends on National Science Foundation funding, and he hasn鈥檛 been able to access it as anticipated.
That鈥檚 because the person at the NSF who administers those hundreds of thousands of dollars was recently fired.
鈥淩unning a technical small business is a pretty time-consuming task, and every time a new hurdle is added, it's just kind of like, 鈥極h my god, not more things to deal with,鈥欌�� Noren said. 鈥淚t was soul-crushing.鈥�
of the NSF鈥檚 staff was initially let go, making it tough for Noren to pay contractors. And he鈥檚 not alone. Grantees who get money from many federal agencies are missing payments and cutting programs.
In some cases, there have been reversals where funding and jobs are restored, including in , but small businesses are especially vulnerable to such whiplash, according to University of Denver finance professor Mac Clouse.
Federal grants play an important role in helping startups get through what鈥檚 known as the 鈥渧alley of death.鈥�
鈥淭hey're too small for a bank to be interested in,鈥� Clouse said. 鈥淰enture capital doesn't want to look at you until they can invest somewhere around a million dollars.鈥�
The NSF helps to fill that gap. It鈥檚 currently putting about towards researchers in the Mountain West, and there are millions more coming from other agencies.
Credit: National Science Foundation
The small businesses they fund help to diversify rural economies, including in Wyoming, which is trying to better insulate itself from the
鈥淭he state has to be more concerned and more aware of how important the small businesses are to the state economy,鈥� Clouse said.
According to , Wyoming has the lowest percentage of people born in the state who stick around. Christoph Geisler, originally from the Netherlands, has lived in the Cowboy State for 20 years and said there鈥檚 just not that much opportunity, especially in the biomedical field.
鈥淎lmost everybody that I've known over the years has moved away, and it's pretty clear why,鈥� said Geisler, adding that with federal cuts, this problem could get worse.
He runs a company, , developing new probiotics to help prevent kidney stone recurrences. It鈥檚 backed by the National Institutes of Health, which has also seen cuts.
鈥淗ow do I tell my investors what situation I am in?鈥� said Geisler. 鈥淪hould I tell them the sky's falling, when I may be OK? Or should I tell them that I'm OK, when things can change on the turn on a dime? 鈥奍 don't really know how to proceed with this.鈥�
He鈥檚 so frustrated that he says he won鈥檛 apply for federal funding until there鈥檚 more certainty.
Noren, back at the stem cell lab, questions the newly created federal Department of Government Efficiency, which is behind a lot of these cuts.
鈥淚t certainly doesn't improve efficiency in my mind because now all of the grants are being administered much more slowly than they were before,鈥� he said.
A judge has now ordered about be reinstated, including the person Noren works with.
An agency spokesperson said this means the U.S. will remain 鈥渁 global leader in scientific discovery and innovation.鈥�
But Noren isn鈥檛 so sure. This weeks-long hiccup has left him uneasy about the future as more cuts remain on the table.
鈥淚t鈥檚 still scary,鈥� he said.
This story was produced by the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio (KNPR) in Las Vegas, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau is provided in part by the .