Peak-a-Boo: Making Binary Chromatographic Peak Detections Reviewable

Peak-a-Boo is a visual analytics prototype for reviewing ambiguous chromatographic peak detections. Presented at IEEE VIS 2026.

Saurav Ghosh, Saugat Pandey, and Alvitta Ottley · IEEE VIS 2026 · Boston, MA

Automated peak detectors can miss small or overlapping peaks and mistake noise for a peak. Peak-a-Boo helps analysts decide which detections to review and inspect the evidence behind each one.

Visual analytics for chromatographic peak review

The review queue prioritizes ambiguous detections. For each case, the interface shows the signal alongside evidence such as local contrast, noise, and stability under perturbation. An interactive sandbox lets analysts see how changing detector settings affects the results.

Illustrative chromatogram with a small peak beside a larger one Candidate for review Time
Illustration of a small peak that may warrant a closer look.

The prototype was tested on synthetic chromatograms. Evaluation with analysts and industrial data is future work.

Try the interactive demo · View the poster on ResearchGate · Official IEEE VIS 2026 listing · Browse my research