One likely effect of the new US government’s recent actions to disrupt NIH grant funding to US universities has been a hit to stock prices of suppliers of life science instrumentation for university R&D.  The Trump Administration’s actions include restrictions and terminations of grants, as well as delays or cancellations of grant review meetings and downsizing at the agency.  Among the most prominent examples is the March report that the NIH had terminated $250 million in research funding to Columbia University. In April, the Harvard Crimson reported that over $100 million in NIH funding to the college had been blocked.

An April 17 NIH internal email directed the agency to “hold off on making awards to schools where the funds have been frozen, i.e., Columbia, Brown, Northwestern, Cornell, Weill Cornell and Harvard.” That same day, KFF Health News reported that the NIH had started cutting grants as early as February 28. In the first month of these cuts, around 780 grants or parts of grants from 220 organizations were terminated, including grants to public universities.

Termination of research projects could cripple lab budgets and resources, including instrumentation purchases and associated aftermarket products such as consumables and maintenance. In addition, facility closures, resource cutbacks and funding reallocation could impact all aspects of university R&D’s lab spending.

Instrumentation purchases can be funded as part of NIH research grants. Grants solely dedicated to instrument purchases are also available. These grants are available through the NIH’s S10 Shared Instrumentation Grant Program. These awards range from $25,000 up to $2.0 billion for instrument purchases for shared use. According to the NIH RePORTER, the program awarded $106.5 million to 127 projects in 2024. Over 400 shared instrumentation grants were disbursed to 157 institutions between FY21 and FY23. In total, since its inception in 1982, the program has funded the purchase of over 5,700 instruments. According to the NIH website, as of April 22, the funding opportunities for the 2025 S10 grants remain listed with an open date of May 2, and there are no reports of these types of grants being suspended or cut by the NIH.

Some instrument-related costs can also, in some cases, be funded through other grants and classified as indirect costs (also known as Facilities and Administration [F&A] expenses). According to the Coalition for Life Sciences, “Such expenses are called F&A and include: laboratory buildings and shared major equipment reimbursed to the institution as depreciation based on the cost of construction and major instrument purchases.” A cap of 15% on indirect costs tied to NIH grants to universities has been permanently blocked by a US district court.

While the stock shake-ups for companies examined here could be taken as a sign of continuing uncertainty around the NIH R&D funding situation for university laboratories, they are also the result of various factors affecting stock markets in general, stocks across industries, as well as a number of individual sectors. For example, the decline in the companies’ stock prices could also be an effect of the stock market’s fortunes overall. On April 21, the Nasdaq closed at 15,870.90 down from its February 10 closing price of 19,714.27, influenced by macroeconomic concerns, tariff announcements and geopolitical conflict, among other factors.  Four of the five companies listed below are traded on the Nasdaq.  Also, the five companies listed here all recorded net losses in 2024.

Here, we examine the stock performance of companies that primarily serve the R&D market with substantial exposure to the university markets and, relatedly, the NIH. It excludes companies that serve a broader variety of sectors that may include diagnostics, industrial and/or biopharma customers and thus excludes the largest life science instrument suppliers to universities.

Suffering the biggest slide in stock price of the companies examined here is 10x Genomics, which provides single-cell sequencing and spatial biology tools. Its stock dropped 31.2% between February 10 and April 25. On February 12, the company announced on its quarterly conference call that its NIH exposure was about 20%–25% of revenues. On that same day, the company forecast 2025 sales to increase 0%–3% to $610–$630 million. The US sales accounted for around 55% of revenues in 2025, or $334.3 million. 10x Genomics has not provided any updated forecast since that time, but it is scheduled to report first quarter financials on May 8.

Cytek Biosciences has also suffered a double-digit drop over the same period, falling 26.8%. The company offers flow cytometers and cell sorters. According to an investor presentation earlier this year, government and academic institutions account for 41% of revenues and the US accounts for 47% of total revenues. On February 27, the company released its 2025 sales forecast of a 2%–6% increase in revenues to $204–$212 million. Yet, according to its quarterly conference call, NIH-related spending makes up less than 5% of company revenues.  Cytek Biosciences will also report results on May 8.

The stock price of Pacific Biosciences (PacBio), which provides sequencers, dropped 18.0% between February 10 and April 21. The company told investors in February that historically around 20% of revenues are tied to the NIH. PacBio expects total 2025 revenues to grow 6% at the midpoint to $155–$170 million. Last year, sales in the Americas accounted for 51% of revenues. On April 11, the company reiterated the full-year forecast but announced a reduction in workforce as part of an effort to reduce expenses to $45–$50 million. The company will report its first quarter results on May 8.

Standard BioTools, which provides single-cell and mass cytometry instrumentation, has seen its stock price decline 11.5% over the period. Earlier this year, the company told investors that less than 10% of its revenue is related to NIH funding and that academic sales in the Americas made up a third of sales. The company expects academic sales in the Americas to decline in the mid-teens this year, with total company sales down 3% at the midpoint to $165–$175 million. The company will announce first quarter results on May 6.

British firm Oxford Nanopore, a maker of nanopore sequencers that is listed on the London Stock Exchange, has shown a 9.5% decrease in its stock price over the period. On March 4, the company disclosed a 10%–15% exposure to the NIH. Nonetheless, the company forecasts 2025 sales to increase 20%–23% in constant currency, up from 2024 sales of £183.2 million ($234.9 million). In 2025, the Americas accounted for 34% of revenues. Along with the financial results, the company announced a nearly 5% reduction in headcount. The company will not report its first-half results until July 21.