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As UofL pulls back on hiring amid NIH funding confusion, UK says it's still monitoring the issue

FILE - The main building of the National Institutes of Health is seen in Bethesda, Md., in this Aug. 17, 2009 file photo. Ten clinicians with a Boston-based nonprofit organization responding to the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone are to be transported to the United States after one of their colleagues was infected with the deadly disease. The clinician who became infected has already been evacuated and is receiving treatment at the National Institutes of Health. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
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AP
FILE - The main building of the National Institutes of Health is seen in Bethesda, Md., in this Aug. 17, 2009 file photo. Ten clinicians with a Boston-based nonprofit organization responding to the Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone are to be transported to the United States after one of their colleagues was infected with the deadly disease. The clinician who became infected has already been evacuated and is receiving treatment at the National Institutes of Health. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

While National Institutes of Health research funding is still flowing to Kentucky, the uncertainty surrounding the dollars is already having effects — with the University of Louisville instituting a hiring freeze through the summer and possibly beyond.

With President Trump's executive orders potentially dealing major funding blows to NIH research grants, UofL is implementing a hiring freeze in preparation for the possible cuts.

While University of Kentucky spokesman Jay Blanton says UK can't speak to actions by other institutions, it is monitoring the issue and the university has not "made such a decision at this juncture."

UK has, however, made public the scope the cuts might have on its extensive research departments — roughly 40,000,000 annually. When the orders were first signed, Blanton described how the university and President Eli Capilouto intend to handle the still-evolving situation.

"We're taking things one step at a time. We want to transparently and openly communicate when we know things," he told WUKY. And right now, our posture is it's our responsibility to tell our story, to underscore why this is so important."

The cuts haven't taken effect, as Trump's orders remain under a temporary restraining order.