Caliper and NASA Establish ADP Collaboration to Create Macromolecular Crystals In Space Using LabChip(R) Technology

Caliper Technologies Corp.
announced that the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and Caliper have established an
Applications Developer Program (ADP) collaboration through a subcontract with
Sverdrup Technology Inc. (a subsidiary of Jacobs Engineering Corp.) to create
macromolecular crystals aboard the International Space Station using
LabChip® technology. The goal of the collaboration is to develop custom
chips and LabChip® systems to facilitate the growth of macromolecular
crystals in a microgravity environment. The information resulting from the
subsequent x-ray diffraction analysis can be used by researchers to help
determine the three-dimensional structure of a macromolecule that, in turn,
may reveal details about the molecule’s function and behavior in the body.

The ADP collaboration is a new proteomics initiative undertaken by NASA’s
Iterative Biological Crystallization (IBC) project to use LabChip®
technology to miniaturize, automate and integrate the processes of liquid
mixing and dispensing, remote imaging and crystal growth in space.
The
LabChip® system will be designed to enable a researcher on earth to set up
experimental conditions in space, directly observe and analyze the crystals,
and then identify desired changes to the crystallization solution formulas for
subsequent experimental reiterations of crystal growth. Currently, when
performed on earth, macromolecule crystallization is a labor-intensive,
lengthy process that requires significant consumption of expensive
macromolecules and reagents.
Working in concert, Caliper, NASA, and Sverdrup
intend to create a customized microfluidic chip specially designed for use in
the microgravity environment of space. The goal of the joint development
program is to provide researchers with a more stable and uniform environment
in which to create higher quality crystals and develop a more reproducible
process for crystallization while potentially reducing reagent consumption up
to 1000-fold. Pilot studies in macromolecule crystallization recently
performed by Caliper and NASA successfully demonstrated the feasibility of
using LabChip® technology to grow macromolecular crystals and laid the
groundwork for establishing the ADP collaboration.

“Our ADP collaboration with NASA offers us an exciting opportunity to find
new uses for Caliper’s chips and instruments — in this case, to facilitate
the structure-aided design approach to drug discovery,” said Dan Kisner, M.D.,
Caliper’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “The essence of the ADP
relationship is joint collaboration with our partners to expand the
applicability and commercial value of LabChip® technology, and to develop
solutions to research challenges that might not otherwise be found.
We
believe that the combination of Caliper’s microfluidic chip expertise, NASA’s
broad macromolecule crystallization and crystallography experience and
Sverdrup’s engineering support has the potential to establish LabChip®
technology as a platform of choice for advanced proteomics research.”

The initial phase of the Caliper/NASA ADP collaboration is being formed
through a subcontract with Sverdrup Technology, Inc., through their
Engineering, Science, and Technical Contract with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight
Center.

For more information on the NASA Biotechnology Program at the Marshall
Space Flight Center see their website at http://crystal.nasa.gov .

The Applications Developer Program (ADP) enables customers to develop the
skills and proficiency to create novel chip-based microfluidic applications
utilizing Caliper’s proprietary LabChip® technology and developmental tool
set. The ADP offers customers the ability to establish their own in-house
microfluidics research program and to develop specific chip-based applications
that are of value to them. Caliper supplies the microfluidic tool set and
training as well as chip design, fabrication and manufacturing. The ADP can
accommodate the goals of end-users that intend to create new applications and
use chips predominantly for their own use, as well as vendor customers that
may be interested in expanding their product offering to include a chip-based
microfluidic component or adapting their products to the LabChip® platform.

Caliper Technologies Corp. is a leader in lab-on-a-chip technology.
Caliper designs, manufactures, and commercializes LabChip® devices and
systems that enable experiments that ordinarily require laboratories full of
equipment and people to be conducted on a chip small enough to fit in the palm
of a child’s hand.
The chip contains a network of microscopic channels
through which fluids and chemicals are moved in order to perform the
experiment. The LabChip® systems are designed to streamline and accelerate
laboratory experimentation and have potential applicability in a broad range
of industries including pharmaceuticals, agriculture, chemicals and
diagnostics. Caliper has established multiple strategic and commercial
alliances and has built a leading intellectual property estate in microfluidic
technology. For more information, please visit Caliper’s new web site at
www.calipertech.com.

NOTE:
The statements in this news release regarding the expected benefits
and results to be obtained from Caliper’s Applications Developer Program
collaboration with NASA and Sverdrup are forward-looking statements that
involve risks and uncertainties. These risks include the risk that due to
unforeseen technical difficulties and other reasons the ADP collaboration with
NASA does not achieve its goals of using LabChip® technology to facilitate
the growth of macromolecule crystals in space; that these efforts do not
provide the desired advantages of higher quality and greater reproducibility
of the crystals created; and the results of the collaboration will not have a
beneficial impact on the discovery of new macromolecule targets nor help to
establish LabChip® technology as a platform of choice for proteomics
research. These and other risks related to Caliper are detailed in Caliper’s
Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC dated March 16, 2001, and in
Caliper’s quarterly reports on Form 10-Q as filed with the SEC.

LabChip is a registered trademark of Caliper Technologies Corp.