Service and Software Solution for the Rigorous Design of Animal Studies

The primary goal of this fast track project is to commercialize a cloud based software suite complemented with on call expert services to guide life science researchersthat may have minimal statistical and experimental designEDknowledgeto rigorously planoptimizejustifymanageand report results for complex animal studiesInadequately planned experimentse glack of randomization blinding and diversitylow sample sizehigh test variabilitiesetccan introduce bias and limit statistical powerboth of which may lead to possible misinterpretations of results and ineffective use of resourcesSuch deficiencies and poor quality reporting can lead to irreproducible results and may mislead the scientific communityCompounding the problem is the complex nature of the studies themselvessuch as species diversitystrain sex groupingslittersrandomizationsample sizepowersampling timesanalysis and treatment plansoutcome variabilityand cost tradeoffs that all must be considered when optimizing EDsSome of these issues may be caused by a lack of access to statisticianstest method knowledgei evariabilitiesand planning tools or a lack of rigorous training in ED methodsA collaborative initiative was created by Seralogix to include experts from the University of TexasFDAUniversity of UtahUniversity of Edinburghand the Broad InsituteAddressing these issuesSeralogix and our collaborators will implement an intelligentknowledge driven cloud application and service portal for ED planning and optimization called the Statistically Rigorous Experimental Animal Study Designeri eSHREWDWe believe that SHREWD will lead to a reduction in animal usesavings in financial and scientific resourcesand will improve the scientific validity of the study results through the rigorous collection of data following well planned and executed experimental designs