Our judges for this award were looking for a product (reagent or instrument) that has recently filled a gap in the market and provided an innovative solution to a known problem.

Diagenode are deserving winners in this new category, having recently developed and launched a new technology – automated ChIPmentation. This unique technology was launched in December 2017, and integrates automated chromatin immunoprecipitation and next generation sequencing library preparation within the same protocol, eliminating the traditional tedious steps, purifications, and inefficiencies that can result from standard ChIP-seq protocols.

Dr Andrew Chalmers, Founder of CiteAb, said: “Diagenode’s Auto ChIPmentation has the potential to make ChIP-seq easier and much faster, making it more accessible to new researchers who may not be well-versed with it. In addition, because the method results in reduced material loss, smaller starting amounts can be used, enabling the use of ChIP-seq in a wider range of projects such as those using rare cell types.

“I think this technology has the potential to bring reliable ChIP technology to a wider range of laboratories, especially those who are not ChiP officianardos. This is exciting as it means more people can use this powerful technique and will hopefully allow key biomedical and wider life science research progress more quickly. It's only just been launched so we look forward to seeing how it performs out in researchers laboratories and look forward to seeing the advances that have used it.”