Bruker Daltonics Introduces ClinProt Micro Solution for Clinical Proteomics at AACR Meeting.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Bruker Daltonics Inc. today announces its new ClinProt(TM) Micro solution for clinical proteomics and peptide/protein biomarker discovery and validation at the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

ClinProt Micro Benchtop Clinical Proteomics System

The ClinProt Micro is a new affordable, easy-to-use and compact clinical system dedicated to peptide and protein profiling, biomarker discovery and biomarker validation (currently for research-use-only). It is based on a high-performance bench-top MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer from Bruker Daltonics' highly regarded FLEX series, providing excellent biomarker detection sensitivity and resolution, as well as the reliability and reproducibility needed for rigorous validation studies of putative biomarkers for cancer and other diseases.

The ClinProt Micro system offers unique integrated sample preparation tools for biofluids and tissue extracts with comprehensive analysis, visualization and model building software. The well-established ClinProt workflow easily measures peptides and proteins which can be used to discover multi-marker panels or profile patterns indicative of specific diseases. These multi-marker panels or patterns have potentially better diagnostic specificity than single biomarkers.

The ClinProt Micro system is ideal for cancer research and other clinical and diagnostics research laboratories engaged in biomarker discovery across a range of samples. It is a robust and easy-to-use system operating under our integrated Compass(TM) software for intuitive operation by expert and non-expert users alike. Another unique component of the ClinProt Micro is Bruker Daltonics' patented AnchorChip(TM) MALDI target technology, which offers excellent performance in biomarker discovery, including fast automated acquisition and a 10-100 fold sensitivity increase.

When upgraded with optional reflectron technology for even higher resolution, the ClinProt Micro system can also be utilized for biomarker identification on isolated and digested putative biomarkers with excellent protein sequence coverage. The reflectron model also offers the ability to detect and localize post-translational modifications in cancer proteomics. The new ClinProt Micro system complements Bruker Daltonics' existing ClinProt high-end research systems based on floor-standing high-resolution MALDI-TOF or TOF/TOF systems, which have become very successful in recent years due to their outstanding performance and reproducibility.

ClinProt Magnetic Bead Sample Preparation

The ClinProt Micro solution incorporates Bruker Daltonics' unique magnetic bead sample preparation technology with functionalized surfaces to bind and enrich proteins and peptides. Captured proteins and peptides are eluted from the surface and a fraction is transferred to AnchorChip targets for analysis, leaving the remaining aliquot for further confirmatory analyses.

The versatile ClinProt MB magnetic bead assays include various choices of hydrophobic bead types, weak anion exchange (WAX) beads, weak cation exchange (WCX) beads, immobilized metal affinity capture (IMAC) beads with both copper and iron variants, as well as MagAB antibody beads for biologically selective, very sensitive clinical assays.

Sample preparation is facile, scaleable and highly reproducible whether undertaken manually, or under automation for higher throughput on the optional ClinProt robot. For larger validation studies, ClinProt magnetic bead sample preparation tools are significantly more affordable and more reproducible than typical flat-surface so-called 'protein chip' methods.

ClinProTools(TM) Software - Completing the Workflow

The ClinProt Micro harnesses the power of Bruker Daltonics' dedicated bioinformatics software for biomarker discovery, called ClinProTools. This intuitive and simple-to-use software allows easy access to ClinProt Micro data for rapid and comprehensive evaluation to mine potential biomarkers in complex protein profiles. ClinProTools offers smart visualization of large numbers of profiles, the creation of predictive models, the validation of models via cluster analysis, and the classification of unknown samples - addressing all the major functions in biomarker pattern profiling and validation.

Mark Flocco, Business Development Manager for Clinical Proteomics at Bruker Daltonics, commented: "Our new ClinProt Micro represents a major leap forward in cancer biomarker discovery, by combining the facile magnetic bead preparation of biological fluids or tissue samples, with high-quality, sensitive and reproducible ClinProt profiling, and dedicated bioinformatics software in an intuitive, flexible and cost effective workflow. Its order of magnitude lower cost per sample makes this approach affordable for economical larger validation studies. Finally, due to its modularity the ClinProt Micro can even be used for the identification of the many recently discovered putative multi-biomarker panels."

Frank H. Laukien, Ph.D., President and CEO, stated: "ClinProt Micro offers a dedicated, scaleable system for biomarker discovery, which we believe will substantially increase the ability of cancer and other clinical researchers to discover, validate and identify new multi-marker panels with higher disease specificity. As the field of clinical proteomics continues to develop, our ClinProt Micro solution offers clinicians and cancer researchers a truly coherent, yet simple to use, routine workflow, delivering excellent data quality and confidence in its interpretation."

CLINPROT AT AACR MEETING

Bruker Daltonics will exhibit the new ClinProt Micro solution at the AACR Meeting at booth 1457. In addition, intriguing biomarker research results by scientists at East Virginia Medical School, Bruker Daltonics and the Penn State College of Medicine, entitled "Serum protein expression patterns in head and neck cancer for biomarker discovery and identification using MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry", will be presented on poster number 4795.

ABOUT BRUKER BIOSCIENCES (NASDAQ: BRKR)

Bruker BioSciences Corporation, headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, is the publicly traded parent company of Bruker AXS Inc. and Bruker Daltonics Inc. Bruker AXS is a leading developer and provider of life science and advanced materials research tools based on X-ray technology. Bruker Daltonics is a leading developer and provider of innovative life science tools based on mass spectrometry. For more information, please visit www.bruker-biosciences.com.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT

Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on current expectations, but are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. The factors that could cause actual future results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's reorganization strategies, integration risks, failure of conditions, technological approaches, product development, market acceptance, cost and pricing of the Company's products, changes in governmental regulations, capital spending and government funding policies, FDA and other regulatory approvals to the extent applicable, competition, the intellectual property of others, patent protection and litigation. These and other factors are identified and described in more detail in our filings with the SEC, including, without limitation, our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004, our most recent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and our current reports on Form 8-K. We disclaim any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.