Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
Location: Zoom
Speaker: Professor Olavo Amaral, M.D., Ph.D., Leopoldo de Meis Institute of Medical Biochemistry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
In this talk, we will present the results of a large multicenter replication of biomedical lab research from Brazil using three common experimental methods: the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), and the elevated plus maze (EPM) experiments in mice. A total of 56 laboratories performed 143 replications of 56 experiments, of which 97 replications of 47 experiments were judged valid by an independent committee. Replication rates for these experiments varied between 15% and 45% according to five predefined criteria. In median terms, relative effect sizes (expressed as ratios of means) were 60% larger in original experiments than in replications, while coefficients of variation were 60% smaller. Beyond the results, we will discuss what we have learned about factors that limit replicability in lab biology, as well as about the challenges of performing large-scale confirmatory research projects in academia.
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