Help Us Strengthen Rigor of Animal Research: Public Feedback Requested

Ever figured out a clever solution to a vexing challenge that affected the rigor of your work with laboratory animals, and then thought that those solutions could improve the quality and transparency of animal research supported across NIH? Recently found yourself at virtual lab meetings brainstorming ways to facilitate translating the findings from your animal study to human biology and disease? Questioned the status quo on how the research culture drives the choice of animal models and the design of experiments? Well, we want to know more. We recently released a Request for Information (RFI) aimed at enhancing rigor, transparency, and translatability to improve biomedical and behavioral research involving animal models  (NOT-OD-20-130). Your feedback is welcomed electronically here by July 31, 2020.  Note: the deadline to submit comments is expected to be extended to August 21, 2020. Research involving animal models are extremely valuable and critical for testing hypotheses about the mechanisms by which various biological factors impact the etiology and course of health and disease. To get us there, NIH seeks to achieve “reproducibility through rigor and transparency.” We have taken several steps to underscore the importance of these precepts, but concerns persist around suboptimal study design, selection of appropriate models, and rigor of statistical design and analyses (see the 2014 National Academies workshop here for more). Moreover, as NIH support for ...
Source: NIH Extramural Nexus: Rock Talk Blog - Category: Research Authors: Tags: blog Open Mike Animal Welfare Request For Information (RFI) Source Type: blogs