Leonard Freedman, GBSI JUDY LICHT, GSBI Leonard Freedman is on a mission to make science better. He’s one of the scientists who helped calculate a now-notorious statistic about waste in preclinical research—namely, that $28 billion in research funds is spent each year on irreproducible research, due to issues with biological reagents, laboratory errors, ill-planned experiments.
To help solve the “reproducibility crisis,” Freedman’s latest ambition is to train students in the fundamental principles of experimental design. The organization he leads, the Global Biological Standards Institute, recently received a $2.34 million grant to launch the project, entitled Producing Reproducible Experiments by Promoting Reverse Experimental Design. He spoke with The Scientist about where things are going wrong in experimental setups, and how his project will help solve the problem.
The Scientist: Where in the scientific process are things going wrong when it comes to irreproducibility?
Leonard Freedman: It’s multifaceted, there isn’t going to be one easy fix. . . . The first two are biological reagents and reference materials. . . . And then we think the [next] biggest driver is study design, ...
