Abstract

In the last decade, metaresearch has gained traction within basic biomedical research. This symposium will highlight some key findings, demonstrate parallels to other scientific domains, and present future-facing work. Malcolm Macleod (CAMARADES, UK) will begin the emergence of evidence synthesis in biomedical lab-based investigations and highlight examples of how it has shaped the “translational” (i.e., lab to human patient) pathway within neurology. Alexandra Bannach-Brown (BIH QUEST, Germany) will discuss how evidence synthesis has improved prioritisation of future basic science experiments, highlighting where novel research is needed. Specifically, her systematic review (supported by automation tools) on microbiota targeting interventions in animal models of depression highlighted gaps in the literature and directly informed the design of primary animal experiments. Manoj Lalu (Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Canada) will discuss how multilaboratory approaches may address issues of reproducibility by directly assessing generalizability of findings. His synthesis of multilaboratory studies conducted to date has directly informed a federally funded multilaboratory consortium. Takuji Usui (Biodiversity Research Center, University of British Columbia) will summarize his work assessing a long-standing debate of animal-based laboratory work: does experimental standardization beget reproducibility. Contrary to popular belief, his meta-analysis demonstrated advantages of purposeful “heterogenization”. Finally, Tracey Weissgerber (BIH QUEST) will close the session with future facing work. She will discuss how complex claims, supported by multiple lines of evidence obtained using very different methodologies, influence the direction of basic biomedical research. Since systematic reviews have limited capacity to synthesize evidence from complex claims, strategies will need to be developed to evaluate these lines of evidence.