The project concerned processing and storing proteomics data. Specifically, large amounts of data gathered during experiments concerning various inhibitors and their effects on various proteins/genes. We reimplemented an existing data-processing pipeline into a more efficient format (from KNIME to Python). Moreover, we built a database that allows the storing of this (processed) data in an efficient manner. We connected the two components using a visual (web)interface that also allows a user to query the data and view various graphs that are generated from the data. This new system will allow our client to upload old data and upload new research data, while keeping data easy to retrieve, fast to process and visually interpretable. The new data management system makes their workflow much simpler as opposed to what they had been doing using excel sheets and KNIME software.
Our client was the Chemistry department of Leiden University with Anthe Janssen and Joel Rüegger being our contact points. We had meetings every one or two weeks, where we discussed their requirements, showed our progress, and received feedback. We also had a Teams group chat where we could ask questions outside of the meetings. This combination worked very well for us, as it allowed us to keep making progress.
Our team consists of five members: Eef Witteveen (product owner), Raphaël Stoffers (scrum master), Simone de Vos Burchart (contact person), Keith I. (software engineer) and Dirk van den Beuken (client meeting lead). We divided ourselves into smaller groups at the start to tackle the most important user requirements. In these smaller groups we worked on the code together at times, and separately on smaller issues. We met as a group twice a week at the university, and we also worked together via Discord outside of that, and sometimes we worked individually. We kept each other updated on what we were doing, and we could ask each other for help.
The main challenge our team overcame was dealing with a project that needed specific understanding of a technical field (biochemistry). We overcame this by maintaining strong communication with our client and asking for frequent feedback.
We are satisfied with how well we communicated as a team and the continuous progress we made on a challenging project.