Breaking Barriers in Parkinson's Disease Research
Developed two products from the ground up, with the goal of connecting Parkinson's disease researchers worldwide in their search for a cure.
2023
UI/UX
DESIGN SYSTEM
The Client
ASAP, or Aligning Science Across Parkinson's, is a collaborative research initiative focused on advancing our understanding of Parkinson's disease. Managed by the Coalition for Aligning Science and in partnership with The Michael J. Fox Foundation, ASAP’s mission is to shift the paradigm of scientific projects towards collaboration.
Client’s Goal
ASAP proposed building two secure digital platforms, the Collaborative Research Network (CRN) Hub, and Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program (GP2), to unite researchers, streamline data sharing, and support resource collaboration in a centralized, user-friendly environment.
Approach
To support ASAP’s mission, the product direction was developed through technical guidance tailored to the organization’s objectives. A cross-functional team was curated, combining expertise in product design, management, strategy, and UX/UI to ensure the platform delivered optimal value to ASAP’s scientific community.
The project began with in-depth interviews with stakeholders involved in the grant program, helping clarify ASAP’s vision and assess existing tools. ASAP’s priorities centered on building a secure, user-friendly system that embodied key principles: collaboration, resource generation, data sharing, discovery acceleration, and Open Science advocacy.
The process revealed that ASAP’s community faced tool overload and needed a cohesive, visually pleasing platform. Many of the legacy tools scientists relied on lacked robustness, identifying clear areas for improvement.
Building Trust with the Scientific Community
Building trust with researchers was essential, as many had reservations about digital tools, particularly around Open Science principles and security. To address these concerns, we engaged with researchers directly, demonstrating how the platform protected their work from unauthorized access. This transparency encouraged a positive view toward digital collaboration and became foundational for the "CRN (Collaborative Research Network) Hub" platform.
User-Centered Design and Testing
By gathering and prioritizing everyone's ideas, a vision for their product started to formulate, which was referred to as the "north star."
A concept that would work for B2C and B2B customers in one app was developed by leaning on experience and applying the business needs to thinking.
A user-centered approach was taken to solve issues with onboarding customers by making the conversion funnel as painless as possible based on existing data and user interviews. Additionally, the use of machine learning was introduced to streamline the ID checking process.
The new onboarding flow now displays a price to customers as early as possible and becomes more accurate as users share more information. The goal is to encourage progression through the funnel by lowering the quote and hopefully incentivizing the user to proceed.
Roadmap and Alignment
The design roadmap structured a seamless design-to-development process, outlining each phase from research and ideation to wireframing, leading to high-fidelity designs and a smooth engineering handover.
With 2 week sprints leading to a demo to client, as well as weekly touchpoints with relevant stakeholders we were able to ensure alignment at every step, allowing meticulous development of each CRN Hub feature.
Design System and Creating a Second Platform
After the successful CRN Hub launch, ASAP required a similar platform for the Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program (GP2). Elements from the CRN Hub were reused and adapted, with a unified Design System to ensure consistent branding and user experience, tailored to each community’s needs.
Deliverables and Impact
The CRN Hub launched in 2021 with around 100 users, growing to over 1,400 active users by 2024 and increasing engagement from 16% to 60%.
The Hub now hosts over 3,000 research outputs, including:
500+
articles
190+
bioinformatic
resources
1,000+
protocols
200+
datasets
These efforts allowed ASAP to explore new approaches to fostering collaborative and open environments, which are central to their mission of accelerating discovery and finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease through collaboration, research-enabling resources, and data sharing.