A veterinary-first EDC, designed for how animal studies actually differ.

My role

Sole designer end-to-end

Scope

End-to-end, built from scratch

Built

Design by me,
AI-assisted development

Overview

Arken is a veterinary-first clinical trial Electronic Data Capture platform, built from scratch to production quality. It is designed around species variation, study-type complexity, and the regulatory frame, with every study configurable to the structure of the organization running it.

Why it exists

Most EDC platforms were designed for human trials, then adapted for veterinary research.

A human-first platform assumes one subject, one consenting person, one dosing basis, and one dictionary. Almost none of that holds in veterinary research, so every study opens with a workaround, and every workaround has to be revalidated.

Objectives

Model the variation

Capture how studies differ, species, subject unit (animal vs pen vs herd), study type, enrollment model, blinding, as explicit structured inputs rather than assumptions baked into the platform.

Derive the structure from it

Those inputs generate the study's shape, its registry, eCRF, monitoring flow, and dictionaries, so a more complex study produces a more complex structure without custom work.

Tailored experience

Forms, available options, and permissions change based on the resulting structure, so each user sees the study they're actually running.

A platform that adapts.

A few answers given at setup, the study category, study type, species, enrollment model, and blinding design, derive most of what a platform normally hard-codes. Configuration becomes something the model produces, not something a team assembles by hand.

Study configuration

Determines available study types, enrollment models, and conditional sections.

Study category

Companion animalLivestock

Study type

Target Animal Safety (TAS)▾

Species

Cat▾

Enrollment model

SubjectDam / Litter

Blinding design

Open-labelSingle-blindDouble-blind

Ready to buildA study fit to this structure, assembled from five choices.

The domain model

Category matrix

6 of 14 shown
5 structural dimensions

Study category	Unit of analysis	Schedule	Endpoint grain	Withdrawal period	Regulatory frame
Companion animal	Individual	Fixed	Per-animal, per-visit	Show / competition only	VICH GL9 · FDA NADA · EMA
Food animal, group	Group / pen	Fixed	Pen aggregate (FCR, mortality, yield)	Slaughter WDP per lot	VICH GL9 · FDA NADA
Poultry, laying	Group / pen + environmental	Fixed	Egg rate, quality, hatchability	Slaughter + egg withdrawal	VICH GL9 · FDA NADA · USDA
Aquaculture	Tank / net-pen (dynamic)	Event-driven	Tank biomass, sampling, FCR	Harvest WDP	VICH GL9 · FDA CVM · EFSA
Reproductive, dam-litter	Dam / litter	Event + sub-schedule	Dam reproductive, litter size	N/A or species-specific	VICH GL9 · FDA NADA
Multi-species	Mixed per arm	Mixed per arm	Mixed per arm	Per arm	Per species

One rule setSetup names the category; the platform resolves every column.

The model behind it.

I mapped fourteen study categories and what sets each one apart, then built Arken on that map. Selecting a category at setup will set the structure for the study.

Core principles

Configuration lives outside forms.
One foundation built to expand.
Permissions shape the experience.
No custom code.
Everything is auditable.

Arken is an experimental platform and evolving concept.

Arken grows as I test ideas against how animal studies actually run, so some of it is solid and some is still moving. What is here works and is clickable, from study setup to the audit trail.

Open Arken

< All work

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