Language Selection GUI

Hello,

I currently work in a research lab, and have been working on developing a code for some heavy data processing, which is currently being performed in Matlab. However, as the research progresses it has come to be time to create a GUI for more flexible inputs and adjustments, as well as easier visual representation, instead of having Matlab spit out 4 pages of graphs and a giant excel file. That being said, I find Matlab's GUI capabilities fairly cumbersome, so the lab is looking to a new program to write the GUI. Immediately, I thought of Visual Basic. However, the more I read into I'm slightly confused as the difference to Visual Basic/Visual Basic for Applications/Visual Studio etc. We're not really concerned with the price of the software, but simply want the one that will best be suited to our needs. Essentially, I am looking to create a program that is capable of interfacing with Matlab for calculations and plot display (or at least getting data for plot display, I not quite sure of graphing capabilities in these programs), as well as pictures from file paths, and then functions to modulate calculation regions/data sets etc. and save options when I'm done. What program would do this most efficiently? I am more concerned with the power of the program as opposed to the difficulty it is to learn, though they all seem as they would have similar syntax. Or is there another software besides these that would be better to create the GUI in?

Thanks for any help.