yuFlu
NGS Home Health Diagnostics
Role
Ex co-founder, CTO
Service Design
All UX (from physical to code) and development
(I no longer support this page)
Problem
You know when you feel like getting sick, and you are not sure if it's a flu, cold, maybe allergies coming on? Or maybe you feel so terrible that you need to go to the doctor to try to figure it out?
Solution
What if there was a simple nasal swab kit you could use at home and find exactly what was going on in a matter of a few hours? Well that's exactly what we were working on at yuFlu. Using NGS (next generation sequencing) we were able to take a small nasal sample and tell you exactly what is ailing you right away. No more doctor or ER visits needed. Then you can get the medication you need directly to feel better faster.
About yuFlu
yuFlu Concept
Something I kept hearing at work, at home, and with friends: "I feel like I am getting sick" or "My head is all stuffed up, but I am pretty sure it's allergies". I always thought that it would be easy to confirm with a quick sequencing of a nasal sample. But that would be crazy expensive and complicated for a one-off sample. Although thousands of samples? Now that would be cheap and easy - and incredibly informative.
Now if you hear your daughter sniffling, unsure to go to work to infect others, or it is too early for allergy season - you can simply swab to check. Completely avoid the hospital (where if you are not sick you are almost assured to get sick.)
Doesn't this already exist?
There are PCR-based tests that can simply say if you have influenza, and report type A or B, but nothing comprehensive that can say if there are other flu-like organisms. But the best part is you don't need to take the yuFlu test at a hospital! Just pick one up at home or drugstore and drop it off.
Also with NGS we have the additional benefits of:
- 1.As new respiratory strains evolve, we can keep on top of the latest
- 2.We create a flu forecasting map to see where the strains are spreading in real time
- 3.Keep non-severe cases out of hospitals, reducing strain on the healthcare system
- 4.Prescribe what you need with a tele-doc appointment
- 5.Reduced misdiagnosis and antimicrobial resistance, and keep antibiotics for when you need them
The yuFlu Steps
Swab
Users collect organisms with nasal swab
Analyse
Tests for 100s of flu-like organisms
Results
Receive results and treatment options on mobile device
App Wireframes and Prototype
Building the Send-Out Kit
yuFlu Send-Out Kit Concept
We needed to develop a kit to send out to customers. The goal was giving clear instructions to users so they could reliably perform getting a consistent clinical test sample of nasal secretions from the back of the nose and throat, also known as a Nasopharyngeal swab kit.
While not new, I wanted to focus on creating a great user experience to make sure people understood what kind of sample we needed without using any of the hospital or clinical lingo, making the nasal swab kit accessible to all users.
The images on the left show the prototype of the kit look and feel I developed on top of the Longhorn swabs we used.
My Contributions
End-to-End Consumer Experience
Designed end-to-end consumer experience: physical swab kit packaging, iOS/Android mobile app, lab integration, results delivery, and telemedicine handoff for positive cases
Product & Regulatory Strategy
Managed product development, lab partnerships (CLIA-certified), and regulatory strategy (FDA compliance) for at-home collection
Bioinformatics Pipeline
Built entire bioinformatics pipeline from sample collection to NGS testing, through secure results handoff to mobile app with automated quality control and data validation
Mobile App Development
Built mobile app (React Native) handling specimen tracking, test status updates, secure results viewing, and care coordination
Trust & Privacy Framework
Established trust framework for sensitive health data including consent flows, privacy controls, and plain-language result interpretation