Pixelgen, Infiltrate Bio, GATC Win Top Innovations
The Scientist named three biotech startups as winners in its 2026 Top Innovations Emerging Startup Technologies category.
Updated on Nov. 2, 2026 in Biotech
The Scientist named Pixelgen Technologies, Infiltrate Bio, and GATC Health as 2026 Top Innovations winners in the Emerging Startup Technologies category. The honorees span single-cell proteomics, acellular immune cell sorting, and AI-driven drug development risk assessment.
Why it matters
The recognized tools target bottlenecks in immunology research, CAR T cell therapy development, and drug pipeline evaluation. Their recognition signals growing attention to technologies that aim to make early-stage biomedical research more predictive.
Pixelgen's Proxiome Kit v2, Immuno 155 v2 covers a 155-plex immune panel, generating a three-dimensional map of tens of thousands of molecular nodes per cell. The source does not report independent validation of these performance claims.
The players
The Scientist
The Scientist is a life sciences publication that runs an annual Top Innovations awards program recognizing new research tools and technologies.
Pixelgen Technologies
Pixelgen Technologies is a biotechnology company developing single-cell proteomics tools that map protein interactions on cell surfaces.
Infiltrate Bio
Infiltrate Bio is a biotechnology company developing microfluidic platforms for immune cell research and cell therapy development.
GATC Health
GATC Health is a company offering AI-driven predictive risk assessments used in biopharmaceutical drug development and clinical trial planning.
The details
Pixelgen Technologies' kit is powered by a DNA-based proximity network assay and was launched in June 2026. Infiltrate Bio's Adhesion Chromatography (A-Chip) is an acellular, biomimetic microfluidic platform sorting immune cells by how they roll, slow, and adhere in a channel reproducing human blood flow; Emory University researchers used it to study solid tumor CAR T cells in preclinical models. GATC Health's Derisq simulates human biology to estimate success probability across efficacy, safety, and patient selection.
Timeline
October 7, 2025: GATC Health launched Derisq at Fierce Biotech Week in Boston.
June 2026: Pixelgen Technologies launched Proxiome Kit v2, Immuno 155 v2.
2026: The Scientist announced its Top Innovations winners.
Big Picture
The Scientist's Top Innovations program recognizes research tools that shape how laboratories generate data. This year's honorees extend that focus toward single-cell proteomics, acellular immune cell assays, and AI-driven drug development risk modeling.
For researchers, tools like these may shorten the time needed to characterize immune cells or evaluate drug candidates before costly trials. Patients would feel these changes only indirectly, through the pace of therapy development.
The takeaway
Recognition from a major science publication signals that tools improving how researchers measure and predict biological outcomes are gaining momentum. Readers tracking biotechnology should watch whether these platforms move from awards into published, independently replicated results.
Further reading
Explore more developments in Biotech to see how new research tools are reshaping drug discovery.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Scientist.
