Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2015 Jan 21:2:35-42.
doi: 10.1016/j.bdq.2015.01.002. eCollection 2014 Dec.

The reproducibility of biomedical research: Sleepers awake!

Stephen A Bustin  1
Affiliations
Review

The reproducibility of biomedical research: Sleepers awake!

Stephen A Bustin. Biomol Detect Quantif. .

Abstract

There is increasing concern about the reliability of biomedical research, with recent articles suggesting that up to 85% of research funding is wasted. This article argues that an important reason for this is the inappropriate use of molecular techniques, particularly in the field of RNA biomarkers, coupled with a tendency to exaggerate the importance of research findings.

Keywords: Biomedicine; Cancer; Microarrays; Next generation sequencing; Reproducibility; qPCR.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Contopoulos-Ioannidis D.G., Ntzani E., Ioannidis J.P. Translation of highly promising basic science research into clinical applications. Am J Med. 2003;114:477–484. - PubMed
    1. Naci H., Ioannidis J.P. How good is evidence from clinical studies of drug effects and why might such evidence fail in the prediction of the clinical utility of drugs? Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol. 2015;55:169–189. - PubMed
    1. Chalmers I., Bracken M.B., Djulbegovic B., Garattini S., Grant J., Gulmezoglu A.M. How to increase value and reduce waste when research priorities are set. Lancet. 2014;383:156–165. - PubMed
    1. Ioannidis J.P., Greenland S., Hlatky M.A., Khoury M.J., Macleod M.R., Moher D. Increasing value and reducing waste in research design, conduct, and analysis. Lancet. 2014;383:166–175. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Al-Shahi Salman R., Beller E., Kagan J., Hemminki E., Phillips R.S., Savulescu J. Increasing value and reducing waste in biomedical research regulation and management. Lancet. 2014;383:176–185. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources