Reproducible preclinical research-Is embracing variability the answer?

Area of Science:

• Preclinical research
• Scientific reproducibility
• Animal research ethics

Background:

• Translational failures and replication issues in published research undermine preclinical studies.
• Questionable research outcomes raise ethical concerns regarding animal use.
• Traditional standardization approaches aim to reduce variability for enhanced sensitivity and reproducibility.

Purpose of the Study:

• To challenge the traditional view that standardization is the sole method for enhancing research reproducibility.
• To explore alternative strategies for improving the reliability of preclinical research findings.
• To investigate the impact of embracing variation on experimental reproducibility.

Main Methods:

• Resampling a large dataset from various research studies on different treatments.
• Implementing multi-laboratory experiments involving a minimal number of research sites (as few as two).
• Analyzing the effect of incorporating variation versus strict standardization on reproducibility.

Main Results:

• Evidence suggests that embracing variation, rather than strict standardization, can increase reproducibility.
• Multi-laboratory experiments with even a small number of sites demonstrated improved reproducibility.
• Increased reproducibility was achieved without necessitating an increase in the overall sample size.

Conclusions:

• Multi-laboratory collaboration and embracing variability offer a viable strategy to enhance preclinical research reproducibility.
• Rethinking standardization approaches is crucial for addressing translational failures and ethical concerns in animal research.
• Future research should consider incorporating inter-laboratory variation to improve the robustness of scientific findings.