The Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology Moves Forward

“Reproducibility is actually the heart of science. The fact that not everything is reproducible is not a surprise.” – Eric Lander, head of the Broad Institute at MIT in a recent Washington Post article. 

“We’re always in a gray area between perfect truth and complete falsehood,” The best researchers can do is edge closer to truth. – Giovanni Parmigiani, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in a recent ScienceNews article

The Reproducibility Project, a collaboration between Science Exchange and the Center for Open Science, is independently replicating some of the most impactful studies in cancer biology. Along the way, not only will the collaboration shepherd 50 studies through the process of replication and meta-analysis, but it will also help to mature the discussion around reproducibility more generally. Where do the biggest challenges lie? What are some of the key predictors of whether experiments are reproducible? The answer to these questions will be critical as the reproducibility initiative gains traction.

Since December, experimental work has begun on four more replication studies, and three more Registered Reports have been published in eLife (with a fourth* accepted and on the way):

• Registered Report: The CD47-signal regulatory protein alpha (SIRPa) interaction is a therapeutic target for human solid tumors
• Registered Report: Senescence surveillance of pre-malignant hepatocytes limits liver cancer development
• Registered Report: Transcriptional amplification in tumor cells with elevated c-Myc
• *Registered Report: Tumour vascularization via endothelial differentiation of glioblastoma stem-like cells

In total, eleven replications have begun or are poised to begin in the coming weeks. Read the rest of this entry »

eLife will publish Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology results

We are excited to announce that eLife has joined our partnership with the Center for Open Science to work on the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology!

eLife is an open access journal co-founded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Wellcome Trust and the Max Plank Institute. We are proud to have the work of the RP:CB published through them.

Each study in the RP:CB will undergo two rounds of review and publication. The first round will present the proposed replication plan to the public in the form of a Registered Report. This Registered Report will ensure that the proposed protocols have been reviewed by scientific and statistical experts prior to experimental work commencing. The completed work and all data will then be published as a Replication study. All data generated will be freely available to the public through eLife’s open access platform. Registered Reports are now under review by the eLife Board of reviewing editors and will be published in the eLife journal as available.

The Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology aims to replicate key findings from 50 high profile papers from the field of cancer biology.

“We need an objective way to evaluate reproducibility,” said Randy Scheckman, who is the Editor-in-Chief of eLife and a Nobel prize winning cell biologist at the University of California- Berkeley. “This project is a valuable opportunity to generate a high-quality dataset to address questions about reproducibility constructively and rigorously.”

For more information, please see eLife (http://elifesciences.org/eLife-the-Center-for-Open-Science-and-Science-Exchange-partner-to-assess-the-reproducibility-of-cancer-biology-research) and the Reproducibility Project: Cancer Biology (http://validation.scienceexchange.com/#/cancer-biology). Read the rest of this entry »