A federal judge allowed most of a whistleblower lawsuit against Harvard to proceed, advancing claims tied to alleged misuse of NIH grant funding by Harvard and a Harvard Catalyst principal investigator. The suit, filed by David S. Zielinski, targets allegations that the University and founder Lee M. Nadler collected $275 million in NIH grants while abandoning or repurposing promised research work in violation of the False Claims Act. U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun rejected Harvard’s motion to dismiss most counts, dismissing one “reverse false claims” count while allowing two counts alleging false claims and false records to move forward. The court’s decision at the motion-to-dismiss stage did not determine whether the allegations are true; it held that the surviving counts were sufficiently pleaded. Harvard has 14 days to answer the remaining claims. The ruling also emphasized the cooperative agreement structure of NIH funding—where NIH expects substantial involvement—and the dispute over whether NIH could have identified alleged work nonperformance through reporting and renewal decisions.