Our Science · SynapticSci

Our science

Our software runs in production for clients including UW Veterinary Care, Maine DOT, and NIEHS. Your first step is a thirty-minute conversation with an expert.

SynapticSci was founded in 2021 by a team that had built and implemented LIMS together before. We run the company the way we ran our laboratories. We form a hypothesis, test it small, and keep what proved.

Scientists helping scientists stay in love with the lab.

SynapticSci is a team of scientists who turned their curiosity toward how laboratories work and now help diagnostic, testing, and research laboratories run better.

Talk with an expert Meet the team →

THEN · WORKED BY HAND A woman in cat-eye glasses and a short-sleeved dress with a white-trimmed collar sits smiling at a desk, a pencil in her hand and handwritten worksheets in front of her; a mechanical calculating machine and a card file stand at the left, and a large photograph of the Moon hangs on the wall behind her. Archive photograph, 1966.
Digitally rendered from the archive photograph: Same desk, same smile, pen and papers, in a white lab coat; a laptop replaces the 1966 calculating machine and a closed box the card file, the wall picture is gone, and laboratory casework with shelves of glassware stands behind her. NOW · SAME DESK, A LAPTOPNOW · DIGITALLY RENDERED
Fig. 1 Katherine Johnson at her desk at NASA Langley Research Center, 1966.
THEN · 1966 · NASA Langley Research Center · NOW · digitally rendered THEN · 1966 · NASA Langley Research Center (photo LRC-1966-B701_P-06717), via Wikimedia Commons · public domain · photograph by Bob Nye NOW · digitally rendered from the archive photograph above (Gemini 3 Pro Image, 2026-10-14): the room geometry, the camera and the people's positions are the photograph; everything else is generated. Not a photograph.

01The scientists

A team that had built and implemented LIMS together before

Today we are an eighteen-person team, fully distributed, with our headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky. We build laboratory informatics for diagnostic, testing, and research laboratories.

The team includes scientists and engineers, test analysts, a Power BI developer, and people in marketing and operations.

Doug, our founder, worked as a biologist, a research tech, and a product manager, including at Fisher Scientific. Along the way he learned that the best people to help a scientist find the right solution are other scientists. That is what sets SynapticSci apart. We want to make lab life easier, and we can only do that by working through the change with you.

Doug and team are always trying to deliver more than we ask for and help us imagine what we could do if we take it further.

from an independent customer survey, 2025

02The method

The scientific method, applied to how a laboratory’s work is recorded

We study laboratory work itself, which means how samples, tests, results, and reports move through a laboratory and where the record behind them breaks. We study it the way we were trained to, with a hypothesis, a measurement where the work happens, and evidence before we make a claim.

We call the method Scientist-Driven Development. It runs the scientific method as an agile delivery loop.

  • A story is a hypothesis.
  • A build is the experiment.
  • Adoption is the analysis.
  • Sustain is the conclusion, which starts the next loop.

Scientists, lab-informatics experts, and the people who use the system shape each product, service, and workflow together, from the problem we observe to the support after go-live.

We deliver in phases, starting with a fixed-scope on-site Understand phase, then one proven step at a time, so you see a working result before you commit further. The Understand phase is an on-site analysis of your workflow that ends in a needs summary, user stories, and plans. Adopt takes each step live, and Sustain keeps the system improving after go-live.

The delivery loop of Understand, Build, and Adopt, with Sustain as the exit A closed loop carries three points, 01 Understand (the hypothesis), 02 Build (the experiment), and 03 Adopt (the analysis). Three gates sit on the loop between them, reading stories confirmed, accepted in UAT, and the next step begins. From Adopt a branch leaves the loop to 04 Sustain (the conclusion), labeled in production, ongoing. The spark brandmark sits at the center with the words Scientist-Driven Development and the loop continues, step after step. Moving dots travel the loop and the exit branch. They are left out when reduced motion is preferred. 01 Understand 02 Build 03 Adopt 04 Sustain the hypothesis the experiment the analysis the conclusion STORIES CONFIRMED ACCEPTED IN UAT THE NEXT STEP BEGINS IN PRODUCTION · ONGOING SCIENTIST-DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT the loop continues, step after step Understand Build Adopt Sustain The delivery loop of Understand, Build, and Adopt, with Sustain as the exit A closed loop carries three points, 01 Understand (the hypothesis), 02 Build (the experiment), and 03 Adopt (the analysis). Three gates sit on the loop between them, reading stories confirmed, accepted in UAT, and the next step begins. From Adopt a branch leaves the loop to 04 Sustain (the conclusion), labeled in production, ongoing. The spark brandmark sits at the center with the words Scientist-Driven Development and the loop continues, step after step. Moving dots travel the loop and the exit branch. They are left out when reduced motion is preferred. 01 Understand 02 Build 03 Adopt 04 Sustain the hypothesis the experiment the analysis the conclusion STORIES CONFIRMED ACCEPTED IN UAT THE NEXT STEP BEGINS IN PRODUCTION · ONGOING SCIENTIST-DRIVENDEVELOPMENT the loop continues, step after step
Fig. 2 The delivery loop, with the scientific method in italic. Understand is the hypothesis, Build the experiment, and Adopt the analysis. The loop runs one piece at a time. Accepted work moves into Sustain, the conclusion, and stays supported while the loop continues.

We run the company the same way we run a project. Every story carries an estimate you can see. We plan against a probabilistic baseline instead of a best case, and we show you the confidence level we planned to.

The company as an experiment, from Hypothesize to Test small to Keep what proved, with Withhold as the exit A closed loop carries three points, 01 Hypothesize (a hypothesis), 02 Test small (a measurement where the work happens), and 03 Keep what proved (evidence before anything is amplified). Three gates sit on the loop between them, reading an estimate you can see, measurement is part of the method, and evidence before amplification. From Keep what proved a branch leaves the loop to 04 Withhold, labeled withheld, never hidden, for what we cannot yet prove. The spark brandmark sits at the center with the words the company runs itself as an experiment, the same way it runs an engagement. Moving dots travel the loop and the exit branch. They are left out when reduced motion is preferred. 01 Hypothesize 02 Test small 03 Keep what proved 04 Withhold a hypothesis a measurement where the work happens evidence before anything is amplified what we cannot yet prove AN ESTIMATE YOU CAN SEE MEASUREMENT IS PART OF THE METHOD EVIDENCE BEFORE AMPLIFICATION WITHHELD, NEVER HIDDEN THE COMPANY RUNS ITSELF AS AN EXPERIMENT the same way it runs an engagement Hypothesize Test small Keep what proved Withhold The company as an experiment, from Hypothesize to Test small to Keep what proved, with Withhold as the exit A closed loop carries three points, 01 Hypothesize (a hypothesis), 02 Test small (a measurement where the work happens), and 03 Keep what proved (evidence before anything is amplified). Three gates sit on the loop between them, reading an estimate you can see, measurement is part of the method, and evidence before amplification. From Keep what proved a branch leaves the loop to 04 Withhold, labeled withheld, never hidden, for what we cannot yet prove. The spark brandmark sits at the center with the words the company runs itself as an experiment, the same way it runs an engagement. Moving dots travel the loop and the exit branch. They are left out when reduced motion is preferred. 01 Hypothesize 02 Test small 03 Keep what proved 04 Withhold a hypothesis a measurement where the workhappens evidence before anything is amplified what we cannot yet prove AN ESTIMATE YOU CAN SEE MEASUREMENT IS PART OFTHE METHOD EVIDENCE BEFOREAMPLIFICATION WITHHELD, NEVER HIDDEN THE COMPANY RUNS ITSELF ASAN EXPERIMENT the same way it runs an engagement
Fig. 3 The company on its own loop. We hypothesize, test small, and keep what proved, the same way we run an engagement. An estimate you can see goes in, and what we cannot yet prove stays out of our claims.

How we work walks through the four phases, what your laboratory’s staff contribute in the first weeks, and what happens after go-live.

03What we hold to

Four commitments we work by

Each commitment is strong enough to stop a message, a feature, or a sale.

Science first

Scientific integrity, laboratory reality, data quality, and traceability come before generic software patterns and marketing convenience.

Evidence before amplification

We make a claim only when we can show the proof, and we bring the figures behind it to the conversation.

Laboratory reality over software abstraction

We model samples, tests, methods, instruments, and quality workflows the way labs actually run them.

The mission

To solve laboratories’ efficiency, traceability, and regulatory needs through experience, innovation, software, and on-time, in-scope lab-informatics delivery.

SynapticSci

Your science is why we do ours.

The Synaptic Spark: turning complexity into insight

04How we sell

What buying from us looks like

We fix the price after the Understand phase, when we have studied your workflow on site and scoped the work with you.

You can stop after the first phase. Understand has a fixed scope and a fixed price, agreed after a first conversation, and it produces the on-site analysis, the needs summary, the user stories, and the plans before any build is priced.

  • Pricing explains how each part is priced.
  • Trust covers where your data lives.
  • Labs we help lists the laboratories we build for.

05Working here

Scientists and engineers who have worked a bench or a data pipeline

We hire scientists and engineers who have worked a bench or a data pipeline. Write to info@synsci.com with what you have built.

THEN · THE COMPUTER ROOM A woman in a short-sleeved dress stands in a computer room, pointing with one hand at the control panel of a tall computer cabinet and with the other toward a printer in the foreground; a second console stands at the left under a window with a blind and an air-conditioning unit. Archive photograph, 1973.
Digitally rendered from the archive photograph: Same room and window, same pointing gesture, in a white lab coat and gloves; a server rack replaces the 1973 computer cabinet, a large automated analyzer stands where the console was, and a bench with tube racks, reagent bottles and two monitors fills the foreground. NOW · SERVERS BESIDE THE BENCHNOW · DIGITALLY RENDERED
Fig. 4 Christine Darden in the computer room at NASA Langley Research Center, 1973.
THEN · 1973 · NASA Langley Research Center · NOW · digitally rendered THEN · 1973 · NASA Langley Research Center (photo LRC-1973-B701_P-05096), via Wikimedia Commons · public domain NOW · digitally rendered from the archive photograph above (Gemini 3 Pro Image, 2026-10-09): the room geometry, the camera and the people's positions are the photograph; everything else is generated. Not a photograph.

06Read on

More about how we work

Talk with an expert