Antibody Sequence Analysis Tool

Overview

The Antibody Sequence Analysis Tool was developed for a university health system department at the forefront of pandemic prevention research. In 2019, this client faced a critical bottleneck: their antibody DNA sequence analysis pipeline relied on a distributed, manual process that was tedious, error-prone, and time-intensive. This inefficiency significantly hampered their ability to rapidly process vital research data. They engaged SciMed to revolutionize this workflow, improving both speed and reliability.

Challenges

Given the urgent nature of their research, the client needed to analyze antibody sequences on demand and at scale. Key challenges included:

• Establishing an intuitive system for easily tracking and organizing complex metadata.

• Ensuring data capture at multiple, critical stages within their evolving research workflow.

• Building a scalable system capable of handling increasing volumes of data and a growing user base.

• Automating existing manual workflows to eliminate tedious tasks and accelerate results.

Our approach

In September 2019, we began our partnership with the client, focused on transforming their antibody DNA sequence analysis pipeline. We started by taking their existing, manually run analysis script and built a robust, user-friendly web interface around it. This empowered scientists to request and receive analysis results quickly and independently, whenever their research demanded it.

Throughout the development process, we worked closely with the client as their scientists refined their lab workflows. This meant that our requirements often needed to adapt in real-time, particularly as they identified new data points needing capture at additional steps. We tackled this by collaborating directly with their team to prioritize these new features against existing work, ensuring that the most valuable enhancements were always delivered first. This agile approach allowed us to remain highly responsive, continuously aligning the tool with their evolving research needs.

Results

The Antibody Sequence Analysis Tool now seamlessly wraps the client's powerful sequence analysis logic in an intuitive interface, allowing users to track, analyze, and securely store their data. Researchers can easily manage their private data or share it with collaborators directly within the system. Since implementing the tool, the client has been able to:

• Streamline and fully automate previously manual, time-consuming tasks, freeing up valuable researcher time.

• Efficiently organize and make critical metadata instantly accessible, improving data integrity and searchability.

• Significantly accelerate their research pace by reducing the time required to receive analysis results, enabling faster insights crucial for pandemic prevention efforts.