| Date | Event | Comment |
| Jan 2014 | The first triphenoxazole dyes synthesised that lead ultimately to the incorporation of ChromaTwist in 2018 | The Preece and Robinson’ academic research group (Greg O’Callgahan, Owen Jones, Dennis Zhao, Michael Butlin, Karolis Virzbickas, Sareena Sund) over the next couple of years developed the triphenoxazole chemistry to reveal that they could be chemically tuned to fluoresce with UV excitation to emit 400nm through to 635 nm, showing the longest Stokes shift for a purely molecular dye. |
| April 2018 | First two patents filed on the triphenoxazole dyes | IP protection for the core molecular structures of the triphenoxazoles Link: “Phenoxazoles” (Europe, USA and China) & “Thiazoles” (Europe, USA and China). |
| July 2018 | InnovateUK ICURe funding awarded | Dr Karolis Virzbickas travelled the globe meeting industry at global tradeshows related to dyes, solar cell and OLEDs to establish which markets the Triphenoxazoles might find application in |
| Sept 2018 | InnovateUK business plan funding awarded | Presenting what was learnt through the InnovateUK ICURe process Preece, Robinson and Virzbickas pitched to InnovateUK and other funders for funds to develop a business plan to spin out a company |
| Nov 2018 | InnovateUK spin-out funding awarded | InnovateUK judged the business plan as credible and invited an application to bid for funds to start a university spin-out business. |
| Dec 2018 | ChromaTwist Incorporated | Chromatwist Ltd formed officially at Companies House, with co-founders and directors Jon Preece, Mark Shepherd and Alex Robinson |
| April 2018 | ChromaTwist begins operations developing the triphenoxazole dyes for biomedical applications | Using the InnovateUK funds and matching investment from directors (Preece, Robinson and Shepherd) ChromaTwist began operations working out of the School of Chemistry, at the University of Birmingham |
| April 2019 | ChromaTwist is a finalist at the Royal Society of Chemistry ‘Emerging Technologies’ competition (London, UK) | Preece and Shepherd present the ChromaTwist dye technology |
| April 2019 | Dr Karolis Virzbickas joins ChromaTwist | Karolis brings with him not only his scientific knowledge but also his business experience from the ICURe and Medici programs |
| April 2019 | Dr Parvez Iqbal joins ChromaTwist | Parvez brings with him 15 years of synthetic chemistry experience garnered though his PhD with Preece and subsequent PDRA position at the University of Birmingham |
| Sept 2019 | Dr Michael Butlin joins ChromaTwist | Michael brings with him a wealth of experience from working not only on the synthesis of the triphenoxazoles during his Phd with Preece, but also a deep insight into their photophysical properties. |
| Sept 2019 | ChromaTwist files a patent on “Triphenylene derivatives for use in imaging biological tissue or fluid” | IP protection for using the triphenoxazoles to image biological systems in Europe, USA, China and Japan. |
| Sept 2019 | ChromaTwist files a patent on “Polymers” | IP protection for using the triphenoxazoles to detect various polymers |
| Sept 2019 | ChromaTwist files a patent on ” Triphenylene Derivatives for Use in Imaging Biological Tissue or Fluid” | IP protection for using the triphenoxazoles to image biological tissues. |
| May 2020 | ChromaTwist secures a Covid extension grant from InnovateUK | |
| June 2020 | ChromaTwist secures a spot in the ‘100 Spin-outs to watch’ in 2020 global Merck-Nature competition | |
| Oct 2020 | Dr Sunil Claire Joins ChromaTwist | Sunil brings with him experience of biomedical imaging and flow cytometry expertise from his PhD and PDRA experiences at the University of Birmingham |
| Oct 2020 | ChromaTwist part sponsors PhD scholarship (Sareena Sund) at the University of Birmingham to develop dye antibody conjugation | |
| Jan 2021 | ChromaTwist secures EIS investment from a group of business Angels, collective known the Vision Angels | |
| Jan 2021 | Darren Wake, lead Vison Angel investor, joins the ChromaTwist Board as NED with special interest in finance, budgeting, forecasting and business strategy | Darren brings 20+ years of senior and C-suite experience in FD and CFO roles in private quit companies, having qualified as a management account with Boots in the 1990s. |
| May 2021 | ChromaTwist secures a supply agreement with Merck (Sigma-Aldrich) for 18 of the ChromaTwist dyes to be sold on the Merck online catalogue | See catalogue at : Triphenoxazoles: Fluorescent Photoconducting Materials |
| April 2022 | Attended Midlands Innovation Flow Cytometry Meeting (Loughborough, UK) | Poster Title:
Awarded first Prize |
| June 2022 | Attended CYTO 2022 (ISAC) (Philadelphia, USA) | Poster Title:
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| July 2022 | Attended Flow Cytometry UK (Birmingham, UK) | Poster Title:
Awarded second prize |
| Aug 2022 | ChromaTwist Moves to dedicated laboratory space at the Wolverhampton Science Park | |
| Sept 2022 | Attended Spectral Symposium (Cambridge, UK) | |
| Sept 2022 | Attended Methods and Applications in Fluorescence (MAF) (Gothenburg, Sweden) | |
| Jan 2023 | Julianna Malicay joins ChromaTwist as its first chemistry technician | |
| May 2023 | Attended CYTO 2023 (ISAC) (Montreal, Canada) | Oral Presentation Title:
Poster Title: |
| May 2023 | ChromaTwist pitches to ‘angelgroups’ and wins EIS investment | |
| July 2023 | ChromaTwist files a patent on “Dendrimers comprising fluorescent dyes” | IP protection for a method of increasing the brightness of a triphenoxazole based molecular probe |
| Aug 2023 | Megan Atwell joins ChromaTwist for a 3 month laboratory internship | Megan will work on dye-anti-body conjugation |
| Jan 2024 | Dr Sareena Sund join ChromaTwist | Sareena joins Chroamtwist after submitting her PhD, and brings with her the experience of dye anti-body conjugation and expertise in flow cytometry. |
| April 2024 | Awarded InnovateUK Smart Award | 16 Month dye development project (June 2024-Sept 2025) |
| April 2024 | Attended Midlands Innovation Flow Cytometry Meeting (Leicester, UK) | Poster Title:
Awarded prize |
| June 2024 | Attended CYTO 2024 (ISAC) (Edinburgh, Scotland) | Poster Title: |
| June 2024 | ChromaTwist files a patent on ” Dendrimers Comprising Fluorescent Dyes “ | IP protection for using the demdrimers comprising of the triphenoxazoles fluorescent dyes. |
| July 2024 | ChromaTwist “Phenoxazoles” patent is granted in the USA and Europe | IP protection for the core molecular structures of the triphenoxazoles. Links Granted Patents in USA and Europe. |
| Jan 2024 | Jevegenijs Petrovs starts a chemical based internship | |
| Aug 2024 | Jevegenijs Petrovs joins ChromaTwist as its second Chemistry Technician | |
| Oct 2024 | Will Truman joins ChromaTwist a NED and Chairman | Will brings a wealth of C-suite experience serving in CEO and CFO roles in private equity companies after a decade of experience working in KPMG. |
| Nov 2025 | ChromaTwist demonstrates staining on PBMC blood cells for the first time | |
| Nov 2025 | Secured EIS investment from members of the Vision Angels and angelgroups | |
| Nov 2025 | Simran Kaur joins ChromaTwist for an internship
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| April 2026 | Attending Midlands Innovation Flow Cytometry Meeting (Warwick, UK) | Poster Title (Sunil Claire): ChromaTwist Dye Technology: A Modular and Scalable Chemical Approach to Produce a Large Bio-conjugatable Portfolio of (Deep) UV Excitable Dyes With Emission Across the Visible Spectrum and Potentially into the Near-IR
Poster Title (Sareena Sund): Novel 355nm (and lower) excitable and Tuneable Emission (Blue through Red) Fluorophores Utilises in Flow Cytometry
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