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Mission and background
CAMARADES Berlin is a specialist team within the BIH QUEST Center for Responsible Research that focuses on preclinical systematic review methodology. Some of you might know it from the Introduction to Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Animal Studies workshop. The main aim of the team is to raise awareness about preclinical systematic reviews and support researchers in conducting systematic reviews in their fields following best practices.
Systematic reviews provide an overview of a research field and highlight knowledge gaps to help justify new studies, while decreasing the likelihood that unnecessary research is conducted. Empirical evidence from systematic reviews can directly inform 3Rs-related experimentation decisions, from housing and husbandry to sample size calculations, modelling, and outcome testing.
Systematic reviews have helped to define factors contributing to our failure to translate findings from animal models to clinical benefit, including threats to the internal and external validity of animal studies. Through targeted improvement measures, we can reduce the use of animals in research of low scientific value and increase reproducibility and translation.
This facility will position the Charité to lead the application of this methodology to address the 3Rs and provide an evidence base for robust animal experiments across Germany.
CAMARADES Berlin provides free consultations on systematic review methods every Monday from 12-1 PM CET. If you are planning to start a systematic review or have already started but require guidance on specific steps, join the online consultation session through this link.
