My guess is genetics.
Is this Aria freq ApoE4 adjusted?
The general frequency of the APOE ε4 allele varies massively in different ethnic populations (Asian 9%, Hispanic 12%, white 14%, AA 19%). E4E4 even lower.

Another issue for smaller, less known labs, not in the most desirable locations (Irvine is average, so cal but not LA or SD) is that finding those individuals who come with their own salary or visit is almost close to zero. So work force is immediately shrinked with budget restraints.

I am also under hiring, which might be a bad strategy for growth, but the effort that goes into hiring + dealing with firing issues if budgets are cut makes under hiring more appealing.

just very rough environment, I will try to write one or two more NIH grants, but I'm afraid that won't be a sustainable strategy for long term.
Overall, what I need to survive is stronger allies + diversification.

I also don't have any private sources of funding (i.e. Donors), which is typical for most youngish scientists in smaller institutions. This alone makes hiring/planning harder...

I have many new people in my lab who are not ready to write up their. Own grants or help me with writing one. Working with many senior colleagues means that discussions for new MPI grants leads to me doing the work for others too (counter productive).

That was very thoughtful. Thanks for sharing. I don't have the capacity to increase the number of my submissions unfortunately. The main problem with budget cuts and lower chance of success is that smaller labs with less diversification will be hurt faster. I'm afraid my lab is among them...

May I ask how you are dealing with current NIH grant problems? Writing more grants? Changing existing ones for resubmitting? I'm geniunly not sure what's the best course of action for new or already fundex grants at this time. Uncertainty = to the roof.

Models showed high sensitivity and improved predictive value in both internal and external validation. ✅

Excited about the potential for smarter, more efficient AD trials.

Don't.

Discussing sex as a biological construct is a requirement in all NIH grants. How is it even possible to exclude that in grants?

Sex differences? Really? This is unbelievable.
I'm very hesitant to submit federal grants right now. Just can't commit that much time and not even get to review stage. I guess many people are like me.

Please keep posting here if you found any updates. 🙏

Do you - even remotely - think there is a logic behind decisions these people are making?

I just don't know what to say. I don't care about my salary, but if this happens, at least one of my wonderful staff will pay for such stupidity with their job. I just can't. 🤦🏻🤦🏻