CiteAb

CiteAb Ltd is a biotechnology company located in Bath, England that offers an antibody search facility.

CiteAb started life in 2013 as an academic project by Dr Andrew Chalmers, a senior lecturer at the University of Bath. The resource was established to help scientific researchers find suitable antibodies for their experiments.

Scientists need to select the research antibodies they use carefully to avoid those of poor quality. One way to do this is to identify those that have been used previously in research and the data published in scientific papers. CiteAb ranks antibodies by citations, making it possible for researchers to find antibodies that have been successfully used. The accompanying citations are listed, so the data contained within the publications can also be checked. The CiteAb platform was built in collaboration with technology company Storm Consultancy in Bath in 2012. A trial website was soft-launched in September 2012 before the full website was publicly launched in September 2013. In June 2013 the number of antibodies listed by CiteAb reached the one million mark. In July 2014 the company announced it had 2 million antibodies in its database.

The company spun out from the University of Bath in January 2014, and CiteAb Limited was formed.

Initial funding was provided as part of an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) ‘Knowledge Transfer Account' and the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s ‘Innovation Fund’ – with funds administered by the University of Bath’s Research Development and Support Office – to enable the growth and development of CiteAb prior to its spin-out. CiteAb was winner of the Best Startup at the 2013 Bath Digital Festival. It was awarded funding from the West of England Growth Fund, administered by the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership.

In August 2014 CiteAb was shortlisted for the Bath Business Awards in the category 'Innovative Startup Business of the Year'. On 11 September 2014 the company was named as the winner of the Bath Business Awards 'Innovative Startup Company' category.