Current projects
CAMARADES is currently engaged in a variety of systematic review and research improvement projects.
Improving the credibility and utility of in vitro research
This project aims to identify key areas threatening experimental validity of in vitro research through systematic review of existing guidelines on conducting in vitro studies and consulting with experts in the field. This project will also work to develop an infrastructure for conducting in vitro systematic reviews, as there is currently no methodological framework for performing systematic reviews on in vitro research.
Key contact: Prof Emily Sena and Dr Nicole Hindley-Pollock
iRISE (improving Reproducibility In SciencE)
This project, funded by the European Union*, is dedicated to increasing the quality, reliability, and reusability of scientific evidence by understanding and addressing the drivers of irreproducibility. We aim to provide a comprehensive, evidence-based roadmap for the development, evaluation, and implementation of interventions designed to enhance reproducibility. We are committed to mainstreaming equity, diversity, and inclusion considerations in all aspects of the iRISE project and encourage others to do the same.
*Under grant agreement No 101094853. The project also receives funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI): Direct Funding for Collaborative Projects as part of the transitional measures.
Project overview on the iRISE website
Key contact: Prof Emily Sena
GALENOS (Global Alliance for Living Evidence on aNxiety, depressiOn and pSychosis)
GALENOS is a large global project launched in early 2023 funded by Wellcome. Over the next 3 years, GALENOS will develop an innovative living evidence resource for research into mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, and psychosis. The living nature of GALENOS aims to keep track of a rapidly expanding body of literature and continually integrate it into our knowledge base, while input from academic experts and experts by lived experience will allow effective research prioritisation for future preclinical and clinical studies. The GALENOS has a strong focus on understanding mechanisms underlying mental health conditions to improve and accelerate the development of treatments for these conditions. The outputs of the project will be 24 living systematic reviews (published in full), and a freely available open access resource.
Protocol for LSR3: TAAR1 agonists for psychosis
Protocol for LSR1: Pro-dopaminergic pharmacological interventions for anhedonia in depression
Key contact: Dr Fiona Ramage
Living systematic reviews and living evidence summaries
CAMARADES are developing automated approaches to systematic review, using methods such as machine learning and text mining. Using these tools, we aim to provide online resources, automatically updated in real-time, that summarise all primary studies in specific research domains. These online resources will help inform the design and development of human clinical trials with a higher rate of success.
Increasing the Reliability and Usefulness of Laboratory Stroke Research
This project, supported by the Stroke Association, will investigate the potential sources of bias that limit our ability to reproduce scientific findings from animal and other preclinical research. We aim to develop an automatically-updated and free online resource that summarises all pre-clinical studies of stroke, the drugs tested, and the quality of experiments. A further aim of this project is to inform the design of animal studies, with a focus on the 3Rs, and use patient experience to inform meaningful pre-clinical models of stroke.
Project overview on the Stroke Association website
Key contact: Dr Emily Sena
AD-SOLES (Systematic Online Living Evidence Summary of Alzheimer's Disease Research)
This project aims to provide a useful and continually updated summary of existing pre-clinical Alzheimer's research. The summary will assess the quality of studies, investigate sources of heterogeneity, and generate hypotheses for future Alzheimer's disease research, using systematic review and meta-analysis methodologies. This workflow enabled us to begin 3 systematic review sub-projects (as part of EQIPD) focussing on different outcomes: The open field test paradigm, sleep EEG, and synaptic plasticity (measured in hippocampal slices).
Synaptic plasticity review protocol
Key contact: Dr Kaitlyn Hair
Repurposing Living Systematic Review for Motor Neuron Disease (ReLiSyR-MND)
Living systematic reviews of clinical and preclinical literature of motor neuron disease (MND) and other neurodegenerative diseases to inform the selection of drugs for repurposing in MND clinical trials, in collaboration with MND-SMART (Motor Neurone Disease – Systematic Multi-Arm Randomised Trial).
MND-SMART clinical trial platform website
Key contact: Dr Charis Wong
Edinburgh Research Improvement Project (ERIP)
A project in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh's Animal Welfare and Ethical Review Body (AWERB) to improve the design, conduct, analysis and reporting of research at the University of Edinburgh. The main aim of the project is to develop and deliver educational materials for everyone involved with preclinical animal research at the University of Edinburgh, including researchers, technical staff, and students, and measure the impact of implementing these approaches on research performance and output.
Edinburgh Research Improvement Project overview on Edinburgh Research Explorer
Key contacts: Dr Gillian Currie