Abbott Molecular

An Elegant Interface for an Innovative Technology

Challenge

PLEX-ID is a high-throughput bio-identification system used to rapidly identify and characterize known and emerging organisms in biological research, biopharmaceutical development, and forensics.

Abbott Molecular came to Insight with this new, advanced microbial-identification technology, which they aimed to embody in the most efficient and user-friendly manner possible.

Insight Solution

Insight streamlined workflow and established the most efficient visual
language for the new software by designing an intuitive user interface that made the preparation and running of samples simple and efficient. In collaboration with Abbott, our teams helped transform a semi-functional engineering release into finished software ready for use by customers.

Designing a User-Friendly Workflow

The PLEX-ID system has a sophisticated information management system that provides control and monitoring from multiple workstations. So Insight began the process by working with Abbott to design an interface that clearly communicated status, streamlining workflow and helping researchers efficiently prepare and track samples.

Insight then developed the visual language for this user interface, establishing the overall look and feel for the new PLEX-ID system.

A Winning Solution

Our efforts resulted in an elegant user interface for an innovative technology that received the 2009 Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Gold Award in Medicine/Biotech.

PLEX-ID promises to alert health officials to new disease strains and may guard against bioterrorism and enable hospitals to identify antibiotic-resistant bacteria in its environment.

The technology is used at 20 sites around the US, including the Centers for Disease Control. And it helped the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego to identify the first 2 cases of the H1N1 swine flu in the USA.