SBIR Phase II: Developing Market-Ready Cloud-Based Software for Mass Spectrometry Data Processing

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是通过开发先进的分析软件来降低成本，提高质谱研究的质量和吞吐量。生物医学、生物技术、农业和化学公司每年在质谱上的花费估计为150亿美元，因为其测量在广泛的产品和服务中提供了商业价值。这个值高度依赖于将实验输出转化为可用信息所需的软件的质量。拟议研究的成功完成将通过更快、更便宜和更准确的数据处理，推动现有市场的发展，从而产生目前最先进技术无法企及的新型医疗诊断、新药和其他新产品。这个SBIR二期项目将通过开发分析软件来解决质谱分析中最紧迫的问题，该分析软件在两个方面得到了改进：1)它将通过易于定制的自动化、交互式假设检验和快速直观的界面将用户分析时间缩短一半；2)它将通过灵活的界面回答更多的实验问题，允许用户利用他们的领域专业知识，同时直观地探索他们的数据。这些特性需要利用在第一阶段（开发了云架构）中实现的概念验证，在第二阶段开发新的接口和算法。项目的主要目标是开发一个应用程序，允许用户在现有方法所需的一半时间内更快地完成重复（通过自动化）和定制（通过直观、灵活的探索工具）分析。与现有软件相比，节省的时间将大大降低人员成本，同时增加了可以回答的实验问题的数量和类型。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to reduce the cost and increase the quality and throughput of mass spectrometry research through the development of advanced analytical software. Biomedical, biotech, agricultural, and chemical companies spend an estimated $15B per year on mass spectrometry because of the commercial value its measurements provide across a broad range of products and services. This value is highly dependent upon the quality of the software needed to render the experimental output into usable information. The successful completion of the proposed research will enable advancements in existing markets through faster, less expensive, and more accurate data processing, leading to novel medical diagnostics, new drugs, and other new products beyond the reach of the current state-of-the-art. This SBIR Phase II project will address the most pressing problems in mass spectrometry by developing analytical software that is improved in two ways: 1) it will cut user analysis time in half through readily customizable automation, interactive hypothesis testing, and fast intuitive interfaces, and 2) it will answer more experimental questions through flexible interfaces that allow users to leverage their domain expertise while intuitively exploring their data. These qualities require leveraging the proof-of-concept achieved in Phase I, where a cloud architecture was developed, onto novel interfaces and algorithms to be developed in Phase II. The principle project goals are to develop an application that allows users to more quickly complete both repetitive (through automation) and custom (through intuitive, flexible exploratory tools) analysis in half the time required by present methods. The time savings will result in much lower personnel cost while simultaneously increasing the number and type of experimental questions that can be answered compared to existing software.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.