What is research assessment reform, and what does it have to do with animal experiments? 🔬 Expand this 🧵 to learn why the COLAAB has officially signed onto @dorassessment.bsky.social! ✒ #AnimalMethodsBias #ResearchAssessment #ResearchCulture #AcademicCommunity

Exciting news‼️ Today, @elsevierconnect.bsky.social's journal Toxicology announced policy changes to help mitigate #AnimalMethodsBias during peer review. The changes are detailed in this piece by Editor-in-Chief Mathieu Vinken: doi.org/10.1016/j.to... Key changes listed below 🧵 ⤵️

🐱 The COLAAB member spotlight series continues with @mikalahsinger.bsky.social! 🐱 Mikalah Singer, JD, LLM, is a science policy specialist with @pcrm.org and has been a member of the COLAAB Mitigation Working Group since 2024. She is based in Portland, Oregon. #SciPol

The COLAAB member spotlight series continues with: 🥼 Merel Ritskes-Hoitinga, PhD! 🥼 👩‍🏫 Professor in the Department of Population Health Science, Institute for Risk Assessment Toxicology at @utrechtuniversity.bsky.social 🤝 Member of @thecolaab.bsky.social Evidence Working Group since 2024.

Animal methods bias is showing up in more discussions about the barriers to reducing animal experimentation. In this 🧵, we discuss two recent pieces in @springernature.com's Journal of Translational Medicine. #AnimalMethodsBias #InstitutionalInertia 🧪

This week, our COLAAB member spotlight series features: 💫 Emily Trunnell, PhD! 💫 @ertrunnell.bsky.social is the director of Science Advancement & Outreach, a division of PETA. She has been with the #COLAAB Mitigation Working Group since 2022, and is based in Tennessee, USA. 🧵

Great to see @nature.com expanding its use of registered reports! www.nature.com/articles/d41... At the Coalition to Illuminate and Address Animal Methods Bias, or the #COLAAB, we support study preregistration as a tool to help mitigate #AnimalMethodsBias. #SciPub #RegisteredReports

Nature is expanding Registered Reports to all the fields in which we publish

Registered Reports improve the credibility of scientific claims by rewarding big questions, sound methods and solid analyses. They need to become a standard tool in research.

nature.com

The COLAAB member spotlight series continues with: 🥼 Francesca Pistollato! 🥼 Francesca Pistollato, PhD, is @humaneworldorg.bsky.social's Senior Program Director, Biomedical Science and has been a member of the #COLAAB Evidence Working Group since 2024. She is based in Treviso, Italy. 🧵 🧪

Catharine Krebs, PhD is heading to Baltimore for next week’s Summer Immersion, a 4-day training event on #NAMs & their applications. In a session on barriers in animal-free research, she'll speak about #AnimalMethodsBias. Find Dr. Krebs and grab a COLAAB sticker! pcrm.org/SummerImmersion 🧪

The COLAAB was busy last week! At #MPS2026, Catharine Krebs & @kathrinherrmann.bsky.social showed how peer review bias for animal experiments slows MPS adoption. At #SSP2026, @mikalahsinger.bsky.social highlighted simple editor actions to curb unfair animal requests. Great to engage the community!

NIH's next Strategic Plan will shape how biomedical research moves forward. One question cannot be ignored: who gets a fair hearing in grant review? The COLAAB submitted a response to NIH’s #RFI on the plan, focusing on #AnimalMethodsBias in grant review as a persistent barrier to progress.

We are immensely honored and proud to share that our founding member, Catharine E. Krebs, PhD of @pcrm.org, has received the @replanimalres.bsky.social Changemaker Award. 🥇💫

👀 Thoughts on this editorial in @biologists.bsky.social @dmmjournal.bsky.social TL;DR: Non‑animal science is disruptive. But animal experimentation is still often treated as the default, reinforced when peer reviewers treat animal use as a prerequisite for publication or funding. More in the 🧵👇

This week’s COLAAB member spotlight features: 🐈 Jessica Kopew, PhD! 🐈 Jessica is a medical research specialist at @pcrm.org and has been a part of @thecolaab.bsky.social Evidence Working Group since 2024. She lives in Washington, DC, with her two tabby cats, Tofu and Beans.

Member spotlight: 🪄 Ignacio Tripodi, PhD! 🪄 Dr. Tripodi is a Principal Machine Learning Research Scientist at @crisistextline.bsky.social and a Data Science & Natural Language Processing Consultant. He has been part of the COLAAB's Evidence Working Group since April 2022. #DataScientist 🧵

🐰 The COLAAB member spotlight series continues with Gabby Vidaurre, PhD! 🐰 Dr. Vidaurre is a research associate with Science Advancement and Outreach. She has been a member of our Mitigation Working Group since 2024, and works from her home in Ashburn, Virginia with her bunny, Cheeky.

In March, #CIHR updated its bias learning modules, including information about methodological bias—when peer reviewers favor methodologies that align with their own. 🔗 cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/54645.html A year ago, #NIH did the same. #PeerReview #PeerReviewBias #ResearchPolicy

The next COLAAB member in our spotlight series is: 🌟 Ross Dobie! 🌟 Ross Dobie, PhD, is Head of Science at the Centre for Human Specific Research 👉 humanspecificresearch.org Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, Ross has been a member of the COLAAB Evidence Working Group since 2025.

The COLAAB's @mikalahsinger.bsky.social is traveling to ️☀️ Chula Vista, CA next month for the 📚 @scholarlypub.bsky.social Annual Meeting. She’ll network & present a poster w/ recommendations for editors to help mitigate animal methods bias & ensure fair review of submissions without animal use. 👇

First up in our COLAAB member spotlight series: ✨ Catharine E. Krebs, PhD ✨ Catharine does research policy work at the US-based nonprofit @pcrm.org. She is a founding member of both of our working groups, where she enjoys working with collaborators across sectors, disciplines, & global regions.

Last week, we brought our Evidence & Mitigation Working Groups together to connect efforts to detect #AnimalMethodsBias with those working to prevent it. 🌟 Lots of energizing conversations + new ideas. Soon, we'll be sharing more about the 👥 driving this work with some COLAAB member spotlights!

Is peer review bias slowing down the adoption of #MicrophysiologicalSystems? If you're attending the 2026 MPS World Summit in Washington, D.C. this May, let's connect! ✈ #AnimalMethodsBias #PeerReview #MPSWorldSummit #MPS #NAMs #organonchips

Last year, we urged NIH to take concrete steps to address #AnimalMethodsBias in grant review. Here's what we learned from the conversation 🧵 #SciencePolicy #SciPol #PeerReview #GrantReview #ResearchFunding #NAMs #NIH #CSR 🧪

COLAAB's Catharine Krebs, PhD of @pcrm.org will speak at the 2026 Summer Immersion on Innovative Approaches in Science, a 4-day training event on #NewApproachMethodologies & their many applications in basic, translational, & regulatory science. 🧪 Free & in-person at @johnshopkinssph.bsky.social!

March 19–20! Radboud Uni & @unibas.ch are hosting a workshop on the "Transition Beyond Animal Experimentation.” 🗣️ The COLAAB’s Dr. Krebs of @pcrm.org will speak about #AnimalMethodsBias as a barrier to this transition, including the latest evidence & bias mitigation strategies from our group.

Finding qualified, willing reviewers is becoming increasingly difficult. In this fresh analysis, @carlbergstrom.com & Kevin Gross describe an unsustainable cycle: 🔄 Manuscript submissions ⬆️ 🔄 Review quality & accuracy ⬇️ 🔄 Authors try their luck at reach journals, further flooding the system

“For years, it’s always been thought that animals should be the default,” Valerie Speirs told @dianakwon.bsky.social for @nature.com 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/d41... Scientists are frustrated by slow progress & feel that papers & grant applications are still expected to include animal experiments.

The age of animal experiments is waning. Where will science go next?

Advances in organ and computer models are raising the prospect that some animal experiments could be eliminated. But there are still huge hurdles to overcome.

nature.com

#PeerReview is meant to be critical, but sometimes it's unprofessional or outright mean. This can be a demoralizing experience for authors. In @nature.com, Katarina Zimmer explored peer-review bullying and what authors can do to avoid and push back on it: www.nature.com/articles/d41... 🧵 👇

‘Lipstick on a pig’: how to fight back against a peer-review bully

Scientific societies, journals, editors and researchers are pushing back against mean-spirited peer reviews.

nature.com

Did you miss Dr. Catharine Krebs’ recent webinar about #AnimalMethodsBias? The recording is now online! If you’ve been looking for a comprehensive overview of our work from the last four (‼️) years, this is it! #PeerReview #Bias #PhDChat 🧪

💭 Ideas about peer review reforms? We got ‘em! OSTP recently sought input on evidence-based reforms that could improve funding allocation, peer review, & grant evaluation. We used this opportunity to raise awareness about #AnimalMethodsBias & provide recommendations for mitigating it. #SciPol