In 2015 Retrogenix received its first Queen’s Award for Enterprise in recognition of the ‘Innovation’ in developing and commercialising its human cell microarray technology. The awards, which are made each year by Her Majesty the Queen, are the UK’s most prestigious acknowledgement of business performance, requiring the highest levels of excellence to be demonstrated in each category.

Retrogenix’s unique technology has unrivalled success in identifying specific interactions that occur between a test molecule and the proteins on the surface of human cells. This critical step is traditionally a major bottleneck in many research projects due to the limitations of the methodologies that were previously available. As such, the technology is saving clients millions of pounds in research costs and preventing unnecessary project delays as scientists receive faster, more accurate results, often at much lower costs than investing in standard methods in-house.

The innovation has helped researchers to understand a variety of different biological processes such as how the malaria parasite binds to blood vessels in the brain, or how a virus attaches to human cells. It is also widely used by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for assessing how a particular drug works and whether it might have toxic effects. The technology is facilitating advances in medical research which will ultimately lead to novel vaccines and therapies for patients.