The National Institutes of Health is asking that the University of Connecticut return $65,005 in grant money for not complying with animal welfare laws, according to an Email sent to the university health center by the National Eye Institute.

The bulk of the money had been award to the university for research performed by neurologist David Waitzman. Between the fall of 2005 and summer of 2006, Waitzman received several citations from the US Department of Agriculture for performing unapproved procedures on rhesus macaques while studying how the brain controls eye movement. In January 2007, Waitzman stopped research on the macaques at the urging of the university, which you can read more about here. Since then, he has not performed research on primates, according to Carolyn Pennington, a spokeswoman for the University of Connecticut Health Center.

On January 15 the NIH sent a letter to Leonard Pauplauskas, associate vice president for research administration at the UConn Health Center, stating that the Office of Animal Welfare (OLAW) had investigated the incidences of noncompliance. "Based on the investigation, OLAW has determined that funds need to be returned to the NEI during this period of noncompliance," the letter states.

The university is considering an appeal to the grant money recall, Carolyn Pennington told the Hartford Courant. The letter from the NIH came "out of no where," Pennington told The Scientist. "They ask for a certain amount of money, no real explanation, or why this amount," she said.

A statement sent to The Scientist by the NIH said: "Federally-supported scientists are accountable from the time they first plan their research to the time the research is completed to protect the welfare of animals in research. With regard to grant awards, no costs for activities with animals may be charged to a NEI grant award during any period of time that a grantee institution is not in compliance with the terms and conditions of the award."