Solutions Portal
UX Designer
The Jackson Laboratory
Overview
The Breeding Service is a key offering at JAX that involves managing and maintaining specialized strain colonies in our facility. JAX staff take action on strain management tasks based on customer requests or milestones outlined in the Statement of Work
The Challenge
Researchers at JAX needed a more efficient, centralized way to manage genetic strains. The existing system had:
❌ Data silos – Information scattered across multiple platforms
❌ Inefficiencies – Manual processes leading to errors
❌ Lack of visibility – Hard to track and manage strain data at scale
❌ Poor accessibility – Difficult to retrieve essential research data
My Role
UX Designer
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Designed Documents, Messages, and Support features
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Conducted user research and facilitated focus groups
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Collaborated with a Product Owner, Software Engineer, Application Architect, and two QA Analysts
Process
Research
In any given project, my process begins with asking a few questions in order to define the problem:
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What are the main goals of this project?
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Who is the end-user of this product?
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In what context will they be using our product?
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What is the pain point that this product will address?
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Are there any similar products on the market and how will we create a better solution?
Generative Research
Secondary research was conducted on the topics of genomics and JAX to gather market insights
Over 2,400 organizations in 68 countries rely on over JAX's 13,000 strains and research services
The JAX research teams focus on computational biology and bioinformatics
Questions to Consider
Are we looking at new customers or active customers?
New Customers
If we are targeting new customers, questions would focus to their current strain process and what laboratory information management system (LIMS) is currently being used
Existing Customers
If we are targeting active customers, questions would focus on their experience with our current process and what challenges they might be facing
How are we with time?
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Need Something Quick & Easy – Surveys
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We Have Some Time – Semi-Structured Interviews
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We Have A Lot of Time – Contextual Inquiries
Understanding the User
Based on focus group sessions, insights were gathered to understand the user's journey.
Customer Confusion
Users need a centralized location to manage their projects
Lack of Access to Transparent Data Concerns
Both customers and JAX PMs will need to have access to the same information about shipping, project status and budget, progress, and colony information.
Communication Challenges
Users need a way to be able to send messages and instructions through the Portal in order to avoid emails going back and forth
"This is better than email attachments. This would be really nice to have because I don't have to go searching through email and I can download it here and send it off."
— JAX PM
"If the clients are sending us things, they’re coming through... and it’s already being logged. Other documents need to be uploaded into the... Database and others need to be emailed."
— JAX PM
User Story
As a user, I want to set up a new breeding project through a centralized LIMs portal so that I can save time and manage the projects efficiently
Initiating Breeding Project Flow
Questions to Consider
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Tasks: What will they do?
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Monitoring: How often?
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Tracking: How will progress be tracked?
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Automation: Is it automated?
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Communication: Daily or weekly contact with the JAX team?
User Flow
Low Fidelity
Low-fidelity wireframes were created to showcase the key features of the LIMS portal.
The dashboard is the focal point of the breeding portal, featuring:
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User tasks
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Project milestones
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Project updates
Engagement Portal Dashboard
Engagement Portal Colony Management
High Fidelity
Document Folders
Messages
Documents
New Message
Next Steps
01 Usability Study
Validate the initial project setup for breeding project purchases to ensure an optimal user experience given its complexity
02 Reiterate Designs
Based on insights from usability studies, revise designs and develop high-fidelity wireframe
Reflection
Project Outcomes & Growth
Following the breeding portal project, we successfully continued the focus group, but as the UX team’s responsibilities expanded, my attention shifted to new initiatives. This increased visibility across departments led to opportunities such as the iPSC project, where I collaborated with genetic scientists to create a research catalog, and a design thinking workshop that helped JAX identify and address pain points within Salesforce.