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LMRA - Lumera Announces Exclusive Licensing Agreement to Capitalize on Growing Commercial Nano-Based Biochip Market
1/25/2005 1:02:02 PM

BOTHELL, Wash., Jan 25, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Lumera Corp. (LMRA) announced it has acquired the exclusive rights to Helix Biopharma's (HBP.TO) Heterodimer Protein Technology (HPT). The technology moves Lumera closer to launching a unique product set aimed to capitalize on the multi-billion dollar proteomic array market.

"When combined with Lumera's existing NanoCapture(TM) Array (NCA) technology, the HPT surface chemistry allows us to bring a new level of value to researchers and scientists concerned with protein research," said Lumera Chief Executive Officer Tom Mino. "The acquisition of this technology showcases Lumera's core competency of bringing important intellectual property to the commercial marketplace, and in this instance, could revolutionize the biochip industry by making protein arrays a reality."

The combination of the Helix HPT technology and Lumera's proprietary nanosurface modification chemistry will, for the first time, allow researchers to consistently take existing DNA arrays to produce protein arrays that accurately mimic the native living cell environment of the body.

This capability could have a significant impact on the diagnostic capabilities of researchers. By enabling researchers to evaluate, with more clarity and accuracy, the impact of various proteins on living cells there may be significant time and cost improvements to many important elements of commercial research including drug screening and toxicology testing.

"We can now produce and capture proteins on a silicon chip surface while keeping proteins fully functional," said Lumera Chief Technology Officer Robert Petcavich. "Combining HPT selective capture chemistry with our chip manufacturing and surface chemistries provides a biologically compatible surface perfectly suited for printing DNA or proteins. Already, we have produced prototype NCA's and carried out enzymatic, binding and proteomic studies with outstanding results."

Lumera will target drug screening, toxicity, protein-protein interaction pathways and selected diagnostic applications. Lumera plans to begin shipping product based on the technology in 2005.

Lumera has become a nanotechnology market leader by developing proprietary technologies and by licensing and commercializing technology products based on exclusive intellectual property. Previously, Lumera has announced exclusive licensing agreements with the University of Washington and Arizona Microsystems.

About Lumera

Lumera is an emerging leader in the field of nanotechnology. The company designs proprietary molecular structures and polymer compounds for a broad range of electro-optic, RF and specialty coating applications. The company also has developed proprietary processes for fabricating such devices. For more information, please visit http://www.lumera.com/.

Certain statements contained in this release are forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the company's forward-looking statements include the following: market acceptance of our technologies and products; our ability to obtain financing; our financial and technical resources relative to those of our competitors; our ability to keep up with rapid technological change; government regulation of our technologies; our ability to enforce our intellectual property rights and protect our proprietary technologies; the ability to obtain additional contract awards and to develop partnership opportunities; the timing of commercial product launches; the ability to achieve key technical milestones in key products; and other risk factors identified from time to time in the company's SEC reports, including in its Annual Report on 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003, and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

SOURCE Lumera Corp.

Todd Wolfenbarger of The Summit Group Communications, [phone], or cell,
[phone], for Lumera Corp.


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