An Interactive Global Network Visualization Supporting SOPHiA GENETICS’ Mission to Democratize Data-Driven Medicine
GAiAPSE visualizes SOPHiA GENETICS’ global network of over 800 institutions and 2 million genomic profiles. Built entirely in-house, the platform transforms complex adoption data into interactive insights and authentic, data-driven communication assets. It empowers decision-making, streamlines visual production, and creates engaging experiences for audiences worldwide.
Company
SOPHiA GENETICS
Team
Jean-Baptiste Mignardot, PhD | Design Lead
Emmanuel Pignat, PhD | Data Visualization & Simulation Expert
Timeline
February 2025 | Inception
June 2025 | v1 Release
About SOPHiA GENETICS
SOPHiA GENETICS operates in one of the most complex and fast-evolving domains: data-driven medicine. Over 15 years, the company has built a diverse SaaS portfolio powered by proprietary AI, supporting clinicians worldwide in analyzing complex genomic data. Its software helps detect genetic variants that inform diagnosis and treatment in oncology as well as rare and inherited diseases. The portfolio includes around 500 applications, grouped into seven main families, all powered by advanced proprietary algorithms.
Each time a genomic profile is analyzed, the system contributes to a growing knowledge base—where insights from one analysis refine the accuracy of others performed elsewhere. This network effect lies at the core of SOPHiA GENETICS’ collective intelligence, enabling hospitals and laboratories worldwide to benefit from shared, anonymized learnings. With a global footprint of more than 800 institutions and over 2 million genomic profiles analyzed, the company bridges science, technology, and healthcare through a powerful and collaborative ecosystem.
The metadata generated from these analyses—covering institutional location, application type, and timing—feeds the dataset visualized through GAiAPSE, offering a clear view of this network’s scale and dynamics.
Complexity ahead
Communicating the scale, impact, and evolution of this network posed a dual challenge. Teams across the company were confronted with vast, complex datasets that lacked the processes and interfaces needed to make them intelligible. Without tools to surface spatial distribution, temporal dynamics, or network relationships in an accessible way, the extraction of strategic insights became challenging, lacking clarity and speed. At the same time, communication outputs were often manually derived from spreadsheets or supported with generic stock imagery, resulting in visuals that were often inconsistent, outdated, and disconnected from real company data. For a global leader in data-driven medicine, this situation was no longer adequate. Addressing these dual needs required a new approach: a platform capable of unifying data exploration and communication.
Value Delivered
GAiAPSE was created to meet these needs, transforming how SOPHiA GENETICS understands and communicates its global network. It combines striking visualization with analytical depth: on one side, generating authentic, data-driven assets that replace generic visuals; on the other, delivering synchronized charts and simulations that reveal adoption patterns, product evolution, and network dynamics with clarity.
The platform delivers value across three dimensions: 1 | Operational Efficiency – a single system for producing consistent, high-quality visuals at speed. 2 | Engagement & Storytelling – turning real data into a consistent visual language for communication, and into immersive experiences that let audiences explore the scale of the SOPHiA GENETICS community for themselves. 3 | Strategic Insight – interactive charts, force-based simulations and natural-language querying that turn vast datasets into actionable perspectives.
GAiAPSE brings SOPHiA GENETICS’ worldwide network to life, showing the interconnected institutions fueling data-driven medicine
Context
As a NASDAQ-listed company, SOPHiA GENETICS must communicate with clarity and authority across audiences—from investors and partners to clinicians and employees. Yet internally, teams preparing strategic presentations or marketing materials often had to rely on spreadsheets and generic imagery, making it difficult to capture the scale and evolution of the company’s network. This gap between the richness of the data and the effectiveness of the communication highlighted the need for a unified solution.
GAiAPSE emerged from this need to efficiently and elegantly transform complex datasets into actionable insights and authentic, visually compelling narratives—while also enabling engaging, interactive experiences for both internal and external audiences.
Preparing presentations often meant struggling with spreadsheets and stock imagery, underscoring the need for a platform like GAiAPSE to unify data and design.
1 | Operational Efficiency
At the heart of GAiAPSE is the interactive global view of SOPHiA GENETICS’ network. This visualization makes visible what had previously been buried in spreadsheets or static maps: the geographical distribution and temporal evolution of the company’s footprint.
Global 3D view: institutions scaled by cumulative product usage, tracking adoption and network connections over time.
Core views
On a 3D globe, each institution is represented and dynamically scaled according to the number of genomic profiles it has processed through SOPHiA GENETICS’ products. Users can explore this data over time, uncovering adoption patterns, growth trajectories, and the company’s expanding presence worldwide.
Decentralized Network Visualization
In addition, GAiAPSE introduces network effect visualizations that connect institutions with one another. These links highlight the emergence of a collective intelligence network—demonstrating how the use of SOPHiA GENETICS’ technology spreads and creates value across regions and institutions.
Visualization of the decentralized network effect, showing interconnections across client institutions. The network dynamically responds to user interactions such as globe rotation and zooming, highlighting the community dimension of SOPHiA GENETICS’ footprint.
This global and time-based view directly responds to the original request for a tool that could consolidate and clarify adoption data in an intuitive way. It forms the basis of GAiAPSE’s visualization approach, establishing a shared foundation on which more advanced features—such as granular filtering, comparative analysis, or storytelling modules—can be built.
2 | Engagement & Storytelling
GAiAPSE is not only a tool for internal analysis—it has become central to SOPHiA GENETICS’ communication strategy. By turning real adoption and usage data into authentic, visually consistent assets, it helps replace generic stock imagery in traditional materials while extending into live engagement. Configured to display only non-sensitive data, the platform powers interactive touchscreens at events, giving audiences an intuitive way to explore the network and experience the company’s impact firsthand.
Credible Design: GAiAPSE’s Data-Driven Visuals
From video explainers showcasing the evolution of the network, to presentation slides, event banners, and brochure covers, GAiAPSE ensures that every visual touchpoint is grounded in the company’s actual footprint. This approach strengthens credibility while creating a distinctive and proprietary visual language for the brand.
" Your video came across so clearly to a lay audience, conveying the point we needed to make simply and graphically. I am so impressed with what you created in such a short amount of time!
Ashley Easter | Head of Strategy & Partnerships, ASTRA ZENECA
Examples of GAiAPSE-generated visuals repurposed across multiple communication formats, including formal presentations and corporate brochure covers. These assets ensure visual consistency, authenticity.
Real-World Activation: Innovation Summit
The SOPHiA GENETICS Innovation Summit, held in both Switzerland and Boston, gathered researchers, clinicians, and BioPharma partners to explore how AI-driven applications empower data-informed decisions. Through expert presentations and discussions, the event highlighted how these advancements address daily challenges and shape the future of healthcare.
As part of the program, GAiAPSE was brought to life on a large interactive touchscreen. Attendees could freely navigate the global map, explore the community, and experience the growth of SOPHiA GENETICS’ network in a highly intuitive way. The installation created a direct and engaging entry point into the company’s story—transforming abstract adoption data into an accessible and memorable experience.
Sparking Dialogue Through Experience
Beyond its visual appeal, the GAiAPSE station facilitated meaningful conversations. By enabling C-level executives, including the CEO, to walk attendees through the network, it became a catalyst for insightful discussions with diverse profiles. Leaders confirmed the value of this experience as a powerful support for dialogue, helping stakeholders quickly grasp the scale and impact of SOPHiA GENETICS’ collective intelligence network.
By unifying storytelling, design, and interactivity, GAiAPSE extends the reach of SOPHiA GENETICS’ mission. It transforms abstract adoption data into an accessible narrative, fostering trust and engagement among diverse audiences.
" GAiAPSE redefines how healthcare institutions, biopharma partners, and the broader ecosystem perceive and understand the global adoption of SOPHiA GENETICS’ solutions. It provides a clearer view of usage trends and product evolution—helping organizations make more informed decisions that advance data-driven medicine.
Andrew Hadji-Hannas | Vice President of Marketing SOPHiA GENETICS
3 | Strategic Insight
GAiAPSE goes beyond high-level visualization of SOPHiA GENETICS’ community, empowering executives, marketing teams, and product leaders to explore adoption and usage data in depth. By combining spatial, temporal, and categorical perspectives—enhanced by the Assistant feature for instant query-based navigation—the platform delivers a clear view of market expansion, product evolution, and network dynamics over time.
Disclaimer | The data shown in the following visuals have been generated using a randomized dataset, due to the sensitive nature of the actual information. None of the presented data should be considered as reflecting SOPHiA GENETICS’ proprietary client information.
GAiAPSE in expert mode, displaying application distribution across institutions in the Detroit–Toronto area. Dynamic pie charts illustrate local adoption, while the data widget highlights the evolution of genomic profiles analyzed per application over time for a selected institution.
By selecting three application families, the interface dynamically adjusts both the pie charts and the institution-level widget, showing line and bar graphs focused on the chosen applications—demonstrating typical use of the platform for in-depth analysis.
Application Family Filtering
Through advanced filtering capabilities, authorized users can isolate specific application families and analyze their distribution across institutions and geographies. Interactive components such as pie charts, line graphs, and bar graphs update responsively, facilitating the analysis of adoption trends, highlights product uptake, and surfaces insights essential for strategic decision-making.
Sunburst chart illustrating the structure of SOPHiA GENETICS’ product portfolio—from broad disease areas to application families (color-coded consistently across views), and finally to individual applications.
Displayed on large monitors, the responsive interface adapts seamlessly to different screen formats, serving as a robust companion for executive decision-making.
Assistant: Turning Questions into Insights
The Assistant feature adds a new dimension to GAiAPSE, allowing users to interact with the platform through natural language. Instead of navigating layers of filters and charts, they can simply ask questions.
By transforming plain-text queries into visual answers, the Assistant dramatically accelerates how users navigate vast amounts of data. Within seconds, users can generate tailored insights aligned to their own needs or interests—whether preparing a stakeholder presentation or surfacing new patterns for exploration. In live meetings, the feature also acts as a decision-making facilitator, delivering real-time, data-driven responses to even complex queries. This capability makes GAiAPSE not only a visualization tool but also an intelligent companion for strategic governance.
The strength of GAiAPSE lies in its versatility: whether comparing adoption across time, zooming into a single institution, assessing the distribution of application families, or instantly querying the database through the Assistant feature, users can configure the tool to match their analytical needs. This flexibility transforms complex adoption data into a resource that supports both day-to-day operational monitoring and long-term strategic foresight.
Beyond the Globe
The 3D globe offers a compelling spatial overview of SOPHiA GENETICS’ network, but it does not allow all institutions to be seen at once. Flat world maps, on the other hand, create dense clusters in some regions and empty gaps in others, making interpretation difficult.
Elegant Solutions to Complex Challenges: Introducing the Force-Based Visualization
This alternative layout arranges institutions in a non-overlapping manner, ensuring clarity without crowding or distortion. It retains all key interactive features—the time slider, application-based filtering, and pie charts encoding both analysis volume (radius) and application distribution. By complementing geographic views, the force-based simulation offers a clear and versatile way to interpret adoption data.
User view of the force-based simulation. After selecting a specific institution within the pool of circles the right-hand panel displays both aggregated community data (top) and institution-level detail (bottom), combining global context with local insight.
Bridging Insight and Communication
GAiAPSE demonstrates that data visualization can serve both analytical depth and creative expression. The force-based simulation is a prime example: while originally developed to provide a clear, non-overlapping view of adoption data, its visual qualities also open opportunities for brand design and creative communication.
The combination of simplicity—geometric shapes—and complexity—large volumes of dynamically moving circles—creates an organic, living effect that is as expressive as it is informative. This aesthetic dimension enables GAiAPSE to extend beyond the screen, inspiring design assets for marketing campaigns, awareness initiatives, or event activations.
Technology
GAiAPSE was entirely developed in-house, with an architecture designed for security, scalability, and versatility. Fully hosted within SOPHiA GENETICS’ IT ecosystem, it connects dynamically to internal databases, ensuring live updates and data integrity. Its modular conception makes it adaptable across contexts: from powering executive dashboards to producing creative communication assets, and from interactive conference touchscreens to everyday slide decks.
GAiAPSE provides a technical foundation that supports consistency, trust, and impact across the organization.
Behind the scenes: Emmanuel Pignat fine-tuning GAiAPSE’s code for its touchscreen deployment at SOPHiA GENETICS’ Innovation Summit, hosted at the company’s headquarters in June 2025.
Setup
Our solution brings together a diverse technology stack, ranging from WebAssembly and Rust to JavaScript frameworks, to deliver a highly interactive and performant data visualisation experience. To illustrate the pipeline, we trace the journey from raw analysis data to rendered pixels in the browser.
The source dataset consists of individual genomic analyses, recorded by client and application, and continuously collected from SOPHiA GENETICS’ products. For GAiAPSE, this data is periodically aggregated into compact monthly summaries (per client, per product). The result is a highly compressed dataset of only a few megabytes, serialized into a single transferable file.
Access to this aggregated dataset is secured via the company’s Single Sign-On (SSO), ensuring that only authorized SOPHiA GENETICS employees can query it. Once authenticated, users’ browsers download the dataset, which is then deserialized by a custom Rust library compiled to WebAssembly. This module provides a near-zero-latency query engine, capable of computing statistics and filtering operations in under a millisecond, enabling seamless real-time interactivity.
The frontend interface is built primarily in React, orchestrating user interactions and the various visualisations. For the 3D globe rendering, we leverage Three.js, while 2D elements such as client markers and pie charts are drawn with d3.js on an HTML5 canvas. In addition, we implemented custom high-performance force simulations to render dense datasets smoothly.
Core system architecture of GAiAPSE, illustrating the end-to-end pipeline from raw genomic analyses to interactive, real-time visualization in the browser.
Technical Considerations on the Assistant feature
The assistant enables users to explore data through natural language queries that go far beyond predefined filters. Instead of manually combining conditions, the user can simply describe what they want to see, for example: “Show me the centers with more than 1,000 analyses using the HemOnc app that have doubled their activity between 2021 and 2022, sorted by the highest variability in monthly analyses.” This request is sent to an external Large Language Model (LLM) API, which interprets the text and translates it into executable filter and sorting expressions compatible with our Rust high-performance data engine. The resulting code, for instance, computes the total number of analyses per year, compares the growth ratio, and ranks centers based on the standard deviation of their monthly activity. These expressions are then evaluated directly in the browser by our WebAssembly engine, allowing for real-time computation and instant visual feedback.
This combination of natural language understanding and client-side performance creates a seamless analytical experience, enabling users to intuitively ask complex questions and immediately explore the results in the visualisation.
Workflow of GAiAPSE’s Assistant feature, showing how natural-language queries are interpreted by a Large Language Model, converted into executable expressions, and rendered in real time through the WebAssembly engine.
Technical Considerations on the force-based visualization
The force-based visualization was designed to address two core challenges.
1: Displaying both the quantity of analyses, encoded as the radius of circles, and the geographical location of clients, while avoiding overlaps. We combined collision forces with geographic attractors, pulling circles toward their projected coordinates. Using d3.js’ iterative simulation engine, positions stabilize dynamically into a clear configuration.
2: Integrating multiple data layers. Each circle represents a client institution, its radius encodes analysis volume, and its embedded pie chart shows application distribution. Relative distances between circles reflect similarity in application usage, computed from pairwise comparisons.
To keep the system responsive at scale, force computations were accelerated through custom WebAssembly code in Rust. The result is an interactive visualization that merges geographic, quantitative, categorical, and relational data into a coherent, scientifically rigorous view.
Observed Impact
GAiAPSE has already demonstrated tangible impact across SOPHiA GENETICS, from operational processes to strategic governance and external engagement. The following outcomes highlight how the platform has strengthened efficiency, insight, and storytelling within the organization.
Operational Efficiency
Accelerated the production of visual assets, reducing reliance on static slides and external imagery. Improved consistency and uniqueness across communication materials, with growing internal demand for GAiAPSE-generated visuals.
Engagement & Storytelling
Created immersive event experiences through interactive touchscreens and digital scrollytelling, which executives confirmed as valuable tools for sparking dialogue with diverse audiences. Strengthened brand visibility by replacing generic imagery with authentic, data-driven visuals—generating more consistent recognition and positive feedback across digital and physical channels.
Strategic Insight
Elevated executive presentations and governance meetings by turning complex adoption data into clear, elegant visuals that facilitated key discussions with partners, healthcare professionals, and investors. Introduced the Assistant feature, enabling users to query the platform in natural language and receive instant, data-driven visual responses—supporting faster preparation of materials and more effective real-time decision-making.
Voice of a "special" user
" This tailor-made interactive visualization powerfully captures the story of our company’s growth. It transforms complex data into a visually compelling and intuitive narrative, clearly illustrating the expansion of our network and the reach of our applications over time. We've used it with great success at major events—and its versatility makes it equally valuable for marketing, public engagement, and even as a potential tool for strategic governance.
Jurgi Camblong | CEO & Co-founder SOPHiA GENETICS
People Behind
Jean-Baptiste Mignardot completed a PhD in Neuroscience before serving six years as a scientific collaborator at EPFL and CHUV within Grégoire Courtine’s team, with research work published in major journals including Nature, Nature Neuroscience, Science Translational Medicine. For over a decade, he has specialized in visual communication for complex scientific and medical topics, with creative assets featured by BBC, CNN, RTS, and Le Temps, as well as shaping premium slide presentations in close collaboration with C-level executives for their talks at major events, including the NVIDIA GTC AI Conference, AstraZeneca Oncology Leaders Summit, and the World Economic Forum. Since 2021, he has been Creative Design Lead at SOPHiA GENETICS, where he directs the brand design system and leads a team of designers and developers. He has also completed advanced training in Creative Leadership at ECAL, strengthening his approach to brand design and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Emmanuel Pignat earned his PhD in Machine Learning and Robotics from EPFL in 2021. Since then, he has combined scientific expertise with creativity, working across serious game design, data visualisation, and web development. As a freelancer, he has developed innovative ways to make complex information engaging and accessible. His recent work focuses on building advanced simulation and optimisation tools to support strategic business decision-making. Emmanuel has also won several hackathons in science communication and data visualisation, reflecting both his technical skills and his passion for turning data into meaningful stories.
Acknowledgement
We wish to acknowledge the stakeholders who accompanied this project at various levels. Their perspectives, feedback, and guidance supported the development of GAiAPSE and helped ensure alignment across the organization.
Andrew Hadji-Hannas | Vice President of Marketing SOPHiA GENETICS; Joey Merrill | BioPharma Strategy SOPHiA GENETICS; Jose Maria Tiñana | Head of Cybersecurity & Architecture SOPHiA GENETICS; Bastien Bournas | Security Lead SOPHiA GENETICS; Richard Peres | Cloud & DevOps Engineer SOPHiA GENETICS; Jess Lambe | VP Business Development BioPharma SOPHiA GENETICS; Jurgi Camblong | CEO & co-founder SOPHiA GENETICS
This work has been prepared as a project submission for the 3rd edition of the Swiss Viz Awards.
Thank you!