Optimize animal group balancing for in vivo experiments.
Last papers that uses Randmice
- Jneid et al., Selective STING stimulation in dendritic cells primes antitumor T cell responses. Science Immunology.
- Mao et al., Abstract 3228: An online tool to balance baseline covariates for mouse clinical trials. Cancer Research.
Heterogeneity is high in small experiments
Manual or random distribution of animals in each group is not optimal. It is even worst for small scale animal studies (N<12) [Bertsimas et al. 2015]. Plus, it relies on undocumented operator's own technique, not reproducible between labs. An obvious solution is to increase the number of mice per group (N>12) but at a cost, not ethical compliant, and even sometimes it is simply not possible.
1. Upload your data
Upload your experiment data (animal tag, variables, etc.). Select the number of groups to optimize and the power of the algorithm.
2. Balancing
Run the balancing algorithm. It will take about ~1 min to ~10 min calculation time
depending on the number of animals and iterations of the algorithm.
3. Get the results
Results will be available directly in your mailbox. Or, if you have an account,
you can download it directly from your dashboard, and find the history of all your randomizations.
Finding the optimum
Randmice uses algorithms to distribute mice between in each group, calculates the heterogeneity, iterates over and over untill an optimum is found.
Example of manual randomization versus randmice. In this experiment, each mice has 2 tumors, one on each flank (left and righ), with heterogeneity in size. The objective is to have groups with similar tumor size left and right. Randmice's algorithm achieves a much better homogeneity between the groups than manual randomization, reducing by 97% heterogeneity.
8 mice/group to 6 mice/group,
keep same heterogeneity between groups and saves 2 mice per
group.
Comply with European ethical rules
Europe implments the 3Rs ethical rule: Replacement, Reduction and Refinement. It is a framework for performing more humane animal research. This principle have been embedded in national and international legislation and regulations on the use of animals in scientific best practice, as well as in the policies of organisations that fund or conduct animal research.
Europe's directive for the protection of animals : n°2010/63/UE / n°2019/1010 .
Randmice helps to justify the 3Rs rule comliance by performing experiment with the lowest number of animals.