Take Advantage of Our Many Resources for Enhancing the Rigor of Animal Research

“Despite the numerous successes stemming from animal research, concerning reports over the past decade have described biomedical experiments that fail to replicate or to translate in ways that improve human health. All research is not expected to translate to human treatments, as there is no perfect model. Scientific process is as much about failure as it is about success. Yet part of the scientific process is also continual improvement, which includes working to understand what might contribute to unexpected outcomes within animal research.” The Advisory Committee to the NIH Director (ACD) expressed that view in their 2021 final report recommending ways for NIH to improve the rigor, reproducibility, and translatability of the research we support involving animal models. Former NIH Director, Dr. Francis Collins reinforced this notion when he wrote soon after the ACD report’s release, “The ability to reproduce biomedical research findings is foundational to the advancement of science and relies on rigorously designed and performed research studies. When a scientific finding can be reproduced by multiple scientists, it validates the accuracy of the data and ensures the study is ready to progress to the next phase of research.” Along these lines, I published a JAMA Open editorial last August stimulated by an interesting analysis showing that NIH-funded scientists are increasingly using “hype” and “appeals to emotion” in their proposal abstracts. As might be exp...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus - Category: Research Authors: Tags: blog Open Mike Alternatives to Animals reproducibility rigor Source Type: funding