Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis in Support of the 3Rs. Satellite Webinar Highlights

As a satellite to the 3R Day, on October 14, 2024, i3S hosted the webinar Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis to Support the 3Rs and Beyond in Biomedicine, presented by Dr. Alexandra Bannach-Brown from CAMARADES Berlin, Institute of Health at Charité. The event was organized by i3S and the Portuguese Reproducibility Network (PTRN).

Dr. Bannach-Brown’s presentation offered a deep dive into the pivotal role of systematic reviews and meta-analyses in advancing the 6Rs—Replacement, Reduction, Refinement, Robustness, Registration, and Reporting. She emphasized how these methodologies address key challenges in biomedical research, such as publication bias and poor study design, ensuring new experiments meaningfully build on existing knowledge. The talk also highlighted CAMARADES’ role in supporting systematic reviews in preclinical research and fostering collaborative networks to overcome challenges like resource constraints and biased literature.

The event concluded with a lively round-table discussion moderated by Susana Magalhães (i3S). Panelists Nuno Franco (i3S, ETPLAS, ORBEA, SPCAL), Teresa Summavielle (i3S, CARE committee at FENS), and Luís Azevedo (MEDCIDS, FMUP) contributed insights on the practical application of systematic reviews to enhance the implementation of 3R principles in biomedical animal research.

For those who couldn’t attend, a video recording of the webinar is now available HERE