"What was previously considered impossible is now a functional platform."
When the Cerebral Palsy Alliance (CPA) approached us in late 2020, they wanted something revolutionary: a data platform that would unlock the future of cerebral palsy research for scientists around the world, built around digging deep into the genome.
The challenge was daunting — nothing like this had ever been accomplished before, and there had been several false starts.
The challenge
Cerebral palsy is the most common motor disability in childhood. Gene research had emerged as a critical path to understanding and treating the condition. If global researchers could share their findings in one centralised location, progress would be super-charged.
But with each 'family' of genetic data costing $10,000 and taking upwards of a year to collect, financial and time constraints were hampering research breakthroughs. CPA had already experienced multiple unsuccessful attempts at building this platform.
The approach
CP Commons enables global collaboration on cerebral palsy genetic research.
Kablamo utilised human-centred design to understand the key product users and develop a platform that would cater to their unique needs. We conducted workshops to establish requirements, created multiple personas, and outlined all the user problems to be addressed.
Given the time-sensitive nature of the project, we prioritised essential features:
- Centralised data portal with ability to manage large genomic files
- Search and request explicit data across the global dataset
- Project creation for researchers to upload their own data
- Administrative portal for regulating user access to confidential information
Results
Prior to engaging us, the CPA had been waiting 18 months for a solution. We delivered the successful product — called CP Commons — in just eight weeks.
Looking forward
CP Commons is now helping to foster a culture of global collaboration and sharing in the cerebral palsy research community. The platform enables researchers to share critical findings, accelerating the path toward better treatments and outcomes for people living with cerebral palsy.
