Lipid researchers deal with thousands of metabolites whose levels may change as a result of a drug, genetic defect, or environmental factor. And it’s hard to quickly visualize the most important changes. Enter Metabolon’s Surveyor tool, a prime example of the power of custom software.
Situation
Metabolon was looking to create its next generation of visualization tools to help researchers analyze metabolites—those small molecules like cholesterol and triglycerides that are among the best predictors of health outcomes.
Driven by executive sponsor Steve Watkins’ inspiration and vision, a collaboration of KnowledgeSource and Dayspring designed and built a set of tools that allows researchers to visualize the change in concentrations of metabolites across a research study.
“More than just executing brilliantly, the team at Dayspring had many great and innovative ideas for the project. I'm extremely happy with the results.”
Steve Watkins
CTO, Metabolon
Execution
Study Journal functionality allows users to remember a particular state of the report configuration and comment on it—in order to provide research collaborators with proper context.
In addition:
- Adjustable color sliders highlight differences detectable at different scaling resolutions.
- Detailed controls allow site users to control for statistical thresholds.
- Colorful matrices, pre-determined pathway visualizations and powerful filtering and sorting tools help to uncover the relationships amidst the mass of thousands of data points.
- And individual “Cards” allow researchers to see details about changes in a particular metabolite—and download them to include in their own research papers.