Solving the reproducibility crisis in science

Semianrio Institucional

At least half of all published research findings in the life sciences are not robust, i.e., that attempts to confirm the findings fail. Prof. Martin C. Michel, leading a guideline committee on this topic for the International Union of Pharmacology, will factors leading to non-robust findings and how to avoid such pitfalls. Recognizing such factors also helps spotting papers at high risk in the literature. He will also discuss the implications of non-robust research for career development and science at large.

Martin C. Michel is a physician trained in experimental and clinical pharmacology in Essen (Germany) and San Diego (California). He headed the Nephrology and Hypertension Research Laboratory at the University of Essen (Germany; 1993-2002), the Department of Pharmacology & Pharmacotherapy at the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands; 2003-2011) and was Global Head of Product and Pipeline Scientific Support at Boehringer Ingelheim (Germany; 2011-2016). His current affiliations include being a Professor of Pharmacology at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz (Germany; since 2012) and being a Senior Partner at the Partnership for the Assessment and Accreditation of Science (PAASP, Heidelberg, Germany; since 2016). His research focusses on urogenital and cardiovascular pharmacology, where he has published more than 500 peer-reviewed articles cited >37,000 times yielding an h-index of 97. He is editor or serves on the board of many pharmacological journals including being the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Mol Pharmacol and Pharmacol Rev. Major distinctions were his election to the Academia Europaea (European Academy of Sciences), being named Honorary Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society and Fellow of the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.