A federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily blocked the cuts from taking effect earlier this month in response to separate lawsuits filed by a group of 22 states plus organizations representing universities,

The new National Institutes of Health policy would strip research groups of hundreds of millions of dollars to cover so-called indirect expenses of studying Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart disease and a host of other illnesses — anything from clinical trials of new treatments to basic lab research that is the foundation for discoveries.

A U.S. judge extended an order on Friday blocking President Donald Trump's administration from slashing grant funding for scientific research that could devastate the budgets of thousands of universities and research institutions while she considers whether the National Institutes of Health's new policy is unlawful.