immunoSEQ Analyzer

Redesign of an online tool used to explore, organize, and share lab results data and analyses for researchers.

COMPANY
Adaptive Biotechnologies, Seattle, WA

ROLE
Senior UX Design Lead and only designer on the Software team, working closely with a product manager, developers, business owners, and internal and external end users.

OVERVIEW
immunoSEQ Analyzer is an analytics tool for researching the adaptive immune system. The tool helps researchers analyze and explore massive immunosequencing data sets using analysis tools, compare analyses from other researchers, and share and publish projects with colleagues.

PROCESS : Defining the Problem
The product manager and I kicked off the redesign project with customer and internal user interviews, and an audit of data analyses in the existing tool. The focus was to identify which graphs and visualizations were most valuable to researchers, and how the analyses were being used. Key findings from the research:

there were too many steps and decisions to make before viewing the data analyses;
users wanted to easily track a selected set of data over time;
hard to flip between analyses to compare and explore the data;
data could not easily be grouped and and shared with colleagues; and
some users needed more guidance on how to analyze immunosequencing data.

Screen from the original immunoSEQ Analyzer tool

Review of immunosequencing analyses and interview findings

Analyses were grouped and prioritized based on research need

PROCESS : Concept Iterations and Refinement
Once the use cases and requirements were defined, the team kicked off the redesign process. Wireframes and interactive prototypes were created to facilitate discussions and explore approaches for:

organizing and saving the data into projects;
navigating between analyses;
visualization of the data;
sharing and collaborating across teams; and
aligning the look & feel of the tool with the company and product brand.

Concepts were reviewed and refined with the internal computational biology users and business stakeholders. The team built and released the redesigned immunoSEQ Analyzer and immuneAccess (public database of immunosequencing data) websites in 2106.

Early wireframes exploring the tool navigation and functionality

Immunosequencing Data visualization Explorations

High fidelity wireframes to iterate on control behavior and states

RESULTS
An easy-to-use analytics tool for researchers to:

explore and visualize large immunosequencing data sets;
structure and compare data across experiment variables;
organize and share projects with colleagues or as public data sets in immuneAccess—the largest open-access database of T- & B-cell annotated receptor sequences.

Over the years, the team designed new features and made improvements to the tool based on feedback from users.

Quick access between project sample sets and analyses

Analyses built for immunoseqeuencing data

Projects and samples can be published to immuneAccess

Project and samples are publicly available

PRODUCT LINKS
immunoSEQ Analyzer Demo
immuneAccess