Fostering Research Partnerships:  How Labfront Enhances Data Collection and Participant Experience

Fostering Research Partnerships:  How Labfront Enhances Data Collection and Participant Experience

Our partnership with UCSD's Dr. Hemal Patel and his team highlights the value of working closely with researchers to enhance data collection and analysis. Find out how assisting studies on meditation, including at a recent Denver retreat, helped us gain key insights that are shaping improvements to our platform.

Sep 23, 2024
By Dr. Han-Ping Huang
researchers collaboratingresearchers collaborating
researchers collaborating
Fostering Research Partnerships:  How Labfront Enhances Data Collection and Participant Experience

Fostering Research Partnerships:  How Labfront Enhances Data Collection and Participant Experience

Our partnership with UCSD's Dr. Hemal Patel and his team highlights the value of working closely with researchers to enhance data collection and analysis. Find out how assisting studies on meditation, including at a recent Denver retreat, helped us gain key insights that are shaping improvements to our platform.

Building Stronger Research Partnerships: Labfront's Commitment to Advancing Science Together

Collaboration is at the core of everything we do at Labfront. Our partnerships go beyond simple working relationships—they’re built on a shared commitment to advancing scientific discovery and improving the research process for both researchers and participants.

A prime example is our ongoing work with Dr. Hemal Patel from UC San Diego. Since 2022, we’ve partnered with his team on studies using wearable devices and biological sampling to explore the effects of intensive meditation. This collaboration has been key to deepening our understanding of the challenges researchers face so that we can continuously improve our platform.  

Labfront's analysts consistently go above and beyond with positivity, a sterling work ethic, and an ever-present willingness to assist, making our collaboration a genuine pleasure.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     -Michelle Poirier, PhD, Research Scientist at Metamorphosis, LLC

Supporting research: Denver meditation retreat

Our research team's Drs. Andrew Ahn, Francis Hsu, and Han-Ping Huang visited Denver in July to assist Dr. Patel’s group in their study at Dr. Joe Dispenza’s meditation retreat.

The study paired younger participants with older ones to explore how close interaction during meditation influences both groups' physiological states. Using wearable devices like the Garmin Vivosmart 5, the researchers collected data on key metrics like heart rate variability (HRV) over the seven-day retreat.

Our team’s role went beyond data collection. We also helped onboard participants, ensuring a smooth and supportive experience. By working closely with both researchers and participants, we gained valuable insights into what makes a successful study from each perspective. This hands-on involvement underscored the importance of participant comfort and ease, which leads to better adherence and, ultimately, higher-quality data.

Labfront research leads Dr. Francis Hsu (left) and Dr. Han-Ping Huang embracing the full participant experience

Learning from the field

Our experience in Denver revealed ways we could further improve our tools and processes. 

For instance, we discovered that onboarding materials could be more intuitive for elderly participants. In response, we’re refining our app’s user interface and updating instructions to make it easier for all age groups to participate in future studies.

Seeing firsthand the complexities of collecting diverse data—from HRV and EEG to blood and urine—reinforced our commitment to streamlining data collection. Whether a study involves a handful of participants or thousands, our goal is to make Labfront’s platform as straightforward as possible so researchers can focus on their work, not on managing the logistics of data collection.

Future improvements in data analytics

The data collected during the Denver retreat has also informed improvements to our data visualization tool (currently in beta), allowing researchers to analyze large datasets more quickly and accurately. These updates will benefit future research, such as a 1000-participant meditation study in Cancun in December 2024. 

It’s exciting to see our collaborations directly shape our development roadmap, with a focus on optimizing participant experience and enhancing data analytics.

Dream Research Team: (From left) Drs. Andrew Ahn, Han-Ping Huang and Francis Hsu

Looking ahead

Our ongoing partnership with UCSD is just one example of how research collaborations are driving innovation at Labfront. By strengthening these relationships, we’re not only contributing to groundbreaking research but also continuously learning how to better serve researchers and participants. 

This exchange of knowledge helps us refine our platform, expand analytics capabilities, and ensure that Labfront continues to lead the way in health research data collection and analysis.

We look forward to growing these partnerships as we work towards making health research more accessible and impactful.

researchers collabing

Access exclusive benefits through the Labfront Collaborator Program

Our collaborator program offers a wide range of benefits to help support your projects---all at no cost to you. These include discounts and dedicated grants, digital biomarkers guidance from our experts, tailored webinars, and access to our device loaner program.

Last medically reviewed on
Oct 9, 2024
Dr. Han-Ping Huang, PhD
Dr. Han-Ping Huang, PhD
Research Lead

Han-Ping is the senior research lead (and chief plant caretaker) at Labfront, specializing in physiological data analysis. An alumnus of the BIDMC/Harvard's Center for Dynamical Biomarkers, Han-Ping uses his PhD in electrophysics to help Labfront customers convert raw physiological data into health insights. He does his best Python coding while powered by arm massages from his spiky-tongued cat, Pi.

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“Now, more than ever, we need tools like Labfront that can help researchers take their research and data collection virtual.”
Dr. Gloria Yeh
Dr. Gloria Yeh, MD
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
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“The Labfront team was extremely responsive to our requests and made every effort to accommodate our unique needs.”
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Yogev Kivity, Ph.D.
Senior Lecturer of Psychology, Bar Ilan University
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"Labfront's analysts understood our needs as researchers and saved us weeks of work when they prepared our datasets for analysis."
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Bryan Edwards, Professor, Joe Synar Chair
Management Department, Oklahoma State University
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“The physiological data really helped provide deeper insights.  We recommend Labfront and will definitely be using it again!”
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Dr. Kristin Scott, PhD
Professor of Business, Clemson University
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