{"id":6826,"date":"2019-07-10T15:49:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T15:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/?p=6826"},"modified":"2026-09-09T17:15:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T17:15:51","slug":"sharing-and-repeating-protocols-its-not-rocket-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/sharing-and-repeating-protocols-its-not-rocket-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharing and Repeating Protocols \u2013 It&#8217;s Not Rocket Science"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The reproducibility crisis<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Question: What can be aggravating, sometimes unpleasant, often unrewarding, brings little prestige and consume insane amounts of time, resources and effort?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Answer: Repeating a research study.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leaders in fields ranging from biomedical research to social science continue to stress the same point \u2014 replication matters, and so does sharing protocols.&nbsp;The importance of repeating experiments is central to a scientist\u2019s career. Indeed, it is crucial, for a research publication or for a patent application.&nbsp;For a finding to have any valid significance, it must be \u2018true\u2019 more than one time and completed by one or more individuals other than the original research group.&nbsp;If not, the finding may be attributed to serendipity, sloppy dissemination or, rarely, fraud.&nbsp;A major result may depend on a subtle experiment detail that was neither communicated via research or indeed, conference paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Science is facing a \u201creproducibility crisis\u201d. Research suggests that more than two-thirds of scientists have tried and failed to reproduce another researcher\u2019s experiments.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-6826_2bb89b-8b .kt-block-spacer{height:60px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-6826_2bb89b-8b .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#eee;width:80%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-6826_2bb89b-8b\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\"\/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The challenge of sharing protocols<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Publishing a paper is an awful lot of work.&nbsp;It involves a number of aspects, like evaluating which journal to submit to, which in turn means appreciating the pecking order of journals as indicated by their \u2018Impact Factor\u2019.&nbsp;It also involves converting the laboratory notes into a well-organized paper that can \u2018pass\u2019 peer review, as well as sharing protocols in a clear way so that other researchers can easily repeat the experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-6826_1fbbd4-15 .kt-block-spacer{height:60px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-6826_1fbbd4-15 .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#eee;width:80%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-6826_1fbbd4-15\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\"\/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Interpreting protocols<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u2018methods and materials\u2019 section of a research paper provides the \u2018recipe\u2019. Just as with baking a cake, however, successful completion depends on human interpretation and skill in reviewing another researcher\u2019s experimental protocol and repeating it step by step. This is especially true in life sciences, where research invariably involves working with liquids.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s assume that you manage to extract the correct step by step protocol from the research paper.&nbsp;You can list the labware used and, at least in theory, re-use the same brand and type of labware, though many do not do this.&nbsp;More problematic are the steps involving human intervention like using a manual pipette.&nbsp;Even if you use the same pipette, how can you determine whether it was calibrated in the same way as the one used in the published work?&nbsp;Moreover, different human operators use pipettes in different ways, which not surprisingly yields slightly different results.&nbsp;When mixing different samples and reagents, this&nbsp;can quickly become quite problematic. The consequences can often lead to frustrated clinicians and drug developers who rely on solid foundations of pre-clinical research to build upon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Experimental protocols are key when planning, performing, and publishing research in many disciplines, especially in relation to the reporting of materials and methods.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sharing protocols more readily, ideally by some electronic means in our age of the Internet of Things (IoT), obviates many potential sources of error.<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-6826_a1331a-31 .kt-block-spacer{height:60px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-6826_a1331a-31 .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#eee;width:80%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-6826_a1331a-31\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\"\/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Is repeatability really a problem?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the last few years, the University of Virginia\u2019s Center for Open Science has led \u2018The Reproducibility Project\u2019, attempting to repeat the findings of five landmark cancer studies.&nbsp;Given that the integrity of the \u2018scientific method\u2019 is contingent upon the repeatability of findings, you might believe this would be well established.&nbsp;Reading the research paper and repeating the peer reviewed protocol disseminated through top journals and \u2018voila\u2019!&nbsp;Except that what actually happened was different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Concern over the reliability of the results published in scientific literature has been growing for some time.&nbsp;According to a survey published in the journal <em>Nature<\/em> in 2017, more than 70% of researchers had tried and failed to reproduce another scientist\u2019s experiments. Marcus Munafo is one of them. Now, a professor of biological psychology at Bristol University (UK), he almost gave up on a career in science when, as a PhD student, he failed to reproduce a textbook study on, of all things, \u2018anxiety\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Opinion holds that much of this is due to a human tendency to focus on the \u2018exciting\u2019 rather than the mundane reality of ensuring repeatable, valid science.&nbsp;Undoubtedly, much is also due to the way that science is disseminated; it is still a slow process, even when it comes down to reviewing research with the significant potential to save lives. That sort of research has its highest impact when part of a collaboration, initially between academic institutions, then eventually between (the pharmaceutical) industry and academia. Moreover, there can be understandable barriers to sharing protocols for commercial reasons, as well as basic human concerns for competition.<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-6826_82d34e-5f .kt-block-spacer{height:60px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-6826_82d34e-5f .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#eee;width:80%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-6826_82d34e-5f\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\"\/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Easier sharing of protocols accelerates innovation<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Collaborations require experiment protocols to be shared between research groups, and repeated, and you only have to spend the briefest amount of time on social media sites for researchers, such as ResearchGate, to realize that shared protocols, including those on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/nprotinvite\">https:\/\/www.nature.com\/nprotinvite<\/a>, raise as many questions as they solve when it comes to understanding how to \u2018bake the cake\u2019, though in this instance, \u2018mixing or shaking, the cocktail might be more apt\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Providing a means by which researchers can easily construct, execute, capture, and disseminate their experiment protocols, including the semi- or fully automated execution of each step, eliminates all variables and solves the needs of frustrated clinicians and drug developers who want solid foundations of pre-clinical research to build upon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our challenge is not only to make it easier for scientists to repeat both their own work and the science of other research groups, but also to speed up the process of bringing innovation to market.&nbsp;Major funders of research, in both the public and private sectors, are trying to remove the barriers, whether that\u2019s the speed of peer review, the ease with which a protocol can be accurately and quickly shared, or the greater use of smart automation that enables scientists to focus on higher level activities.&nbsp;If you wonder what those higher-level activities might be, look at the burgeoning databases of biological pathways and the effort and resources required to solve one of humanity\u2019s greatest challenges: understanding what makes us tick.&nbsp;Put another way, addressing the repeatability problem isn\u2019t \u2018rocket science\u2019, we already have the tools\u2014 let\u2019s use them.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"449\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/onelab-demo-resized-1024x449.webp\" alt=\"onelab demo resized\" class=\"wp-image-6829\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/onelab-demo-resized-1024x449.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/onelab-demo-resized-300x132.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/onelab-demo-resized-768x337.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/onelab-demo-resized.webp 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-6826_44b678-01 .kt-block-spacer{height:60px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-6826_44b678-01 .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#eee;width:80%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-6826_44b678-01\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\"\/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Enter&nbsp;OneLab<\/strong> <strong>Software<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Waters developed a solution to solve protocol sharing and experiment execution problems and it is called&nbsp;OneLab Software.&nbsp;It is a unique, browser-based software environment enabling researchers to design, execute, and share their own protocols through a highly intuitive graphical interface that can be executed step-by-step, from any PC or tablet.&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"Go%20to%20https:\/onelab.andrewalliance.com%20today%20and%20try%20out%20OneLab%20Software%20for%20free.\"><\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;You can use it with your current setup, and it does not require any connected devices. Sharing protocols could not be easier.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/onelab-design-and-execute-1024x600.jpg\" alt=\"onelab design and execute\" class=\"wp-image-6830\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/onelab-design-and-execute-1024x600.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/onelab-design-and-execute-300x176.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/onelab-design-and-execute-768x450.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/onelab-design-and-execute.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">You can set-up and control experiments with ease from a laptop or tablet.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.andrewalliance.com\/laboratory-software\/\">OneLab<\/a>&nbsp;Software combines several powerful advantages:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Designing experiment protocols is easy:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Intuitive graphical drag-and- drop design interface.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Eliminates error-prone calculations for serial dilutions and concentration normalizations.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Accelerates collaboration and training by easily sharing protocols with other researchers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Executing them is even easier:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ensures correct manual execution of protocols with your current set-up.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Guarantees reproducibility with secure communication of protocols to OneLab Software compatible device(s).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Connectivity with the award-winning&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.andrewalliance.com\/andrew-plus\/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI24nLo9up4wIVCrftCh3wTgyaEAAYASAAEgLRJfD_BwE\">Andrew+ Robot<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.andrewalliance.com\/electronic-pipettes\/\">Pipette+ Electronic Pipettes<\/a>, or any other connected device, enables researchers to achieve the highest levels of repeatability and productivity, with the added advantage of full traceability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"487\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/screenshot-2019-06-14-at-15-1-1024x487.webp\" alt=\"screenshot 2019 06 14 at 15\" class=\"wp-image-6832\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/screenshot-2019-06-14-at-15-1-1024x487.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/screenshot-2019-06-14-at-15-1-300x143.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/screenshot-2019-06-14-at-15-1-768x365.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.waters.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/screenshot-2019-06-14-at-15-1.webp 1048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-6826_8647cf-70 .kt-block-spacer{height:60px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-6826_8647cf-70 .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#eee;width:80%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-6826_8647cf-70\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\"\/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ready to take the next step in ensuring the repeatability of your protocols and experiments? Learn more about how OneLab Software can improve your protocol repeatability and sharing today.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The reproducibility crisis Question: What can be aggravating, sometimes unpleasant, often unrewarding, brings little prestige and consume insane amounts of time, resources and effort? Answer: Repeating a research study. 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