20 Aug Assay Interfacing
At Key Tech, we are obsessed with users. Who are they and what is their background or level of training? What are their needs, limitations, and frustrations with their current workflow? What pain or illness are they suffering from? And how can we design products that make them light up and exclaim, “Yes, that’s it!” Seeing that excitement and relief is a big part of what makes our jobs worthwhile.
Users include more than just the end product user
We in the product design industry often fall into the trap of having a narrow view of who a “user” is. You might imagine a lab technician or a nurse at an urgent care facility, or maybe a cancer or dialysis patient visiting a treatment clinic each week. But one of the most important users of our products is often overlooked: the assay scientist.
Assay scientists struggle with the use of prototype products
Long before a product enters the market, assay scientists of all stripes—chemists, biologists, university professors, engineers and technicians—face the daunting task of building an assay onto that prototype product. These overlooked users frequently struggle with complicated and unreliable test fixtures, unintuitive engineering software, rats’ nests of cables and wires, and clunky digital management of what little data they are able to obtain.
We sympathize with these neglected users
Our obsession with users extends to these assay scientists and engineers. As engineers and scientists ourselves, we have a deep sympathy for the struggle of trying to innovate while being hampered by imperfect hardware and software tools, as well as an appreciation for the incredible value that good tools can unlock.
Our process starts with understanding needs
To help assay scientists unlock that value, our engagements with new clients always start with a deep dive into the challenges and frustrations that their assay scientists face. This engagement might include a tour of their lab space, a review of their data, or a demo of their prototype product. We want to understand what they’re trying to achieve, to hear what approaches they’ve already tried, and to understand their fundamental needs as they work to develop a new assay. That understanding of needs is critical: Early in an assay development program, assay scientists rarely have a mature set of product requirements, and asking them for those requirements only adds to their list of challenges. But on the other hand, they can talk all day about their needs; once we understand those needs, we can get to work meeting them.
We have tools to enable assay scientists
Every assay development program is unique, but no program can afford to reinvent a toolset from scratch. That’s why Key Tech has leveraged our 25+ years of experience to develop flexible but powerful tools for assay development. These tools include Key#®, Key Tech’s highly configurable software platform for scripting, controlling, and collecting data from prototype products. Our reusable toolset also includes a library of dozens of common custom electrical circuits, from microcontrollers to power supplies to temperature controllers. And we have a wealth of checklists, templates, and processes to help remove the grind from product development so that we can focus more of our effort on understanding and meeting the needs of our clients and their users (of all kinds).
Contact us
We love talking shop with assay scientists because every challenge they face is an opportunity to help some of the users that we’re so obsessed with. Contact us to tell us what you’re struggling with—we’d love to help.
Jeff graduated from the University of Maryland with a BS in Electrical Engineering. In his spare time, he plays bass guitar in a cover band and tries to get his co-workers to come to his shows.
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