Francis Collins, the genome pioneer who now heads the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), can't shake his uneasy thoughts about the Institutes' financial future. While it received $10 billion in stimulus funds, those funds run out after two years--and that's sure to cause stress in the medical research enterprise.

Speaking to reporters Friday at the Annual Meeting, Collins seemed to expect a significant loss of funds. “There is no question that after this 2-year influx, which the community was desperate for, we are once again going to see a difficult time for investigators to get funding for all the great ideas they have,” he said in story in Science NOW.

Collins and NIH plan to try some new funding strategies designed to maximize the bang-for-the-buck yield. New funds will be set aside for high-risk, innovative projects--and he promised more details in the week ahead.

Read Christina Reed's full report in Science NOW.