Caliper Technologies Awarded $2 Million Contract by the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Advanced Technology Program.

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Oct. 8, 1998--

Caliper Chosen to Develop DNA Analysis Platform Based

on Its LabChip(TM) Microfluidic Device Technology

Caliper Technologies Corp. announced today its award of a $2 million contract from the Advanced Technology Program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (http://www.atp.nist.gov) in the "Tools for DNA Diagnostics" focus competition.

The goal of the project is the development of a high-throughput DNA diagnostic platform, based on Caliper's proprietary "lab-on-a-chip" technology, for use in centralized clinical laboratories.

The planned LabChip(TM) microfluidic systems will significantly reduce the time required for key aspects of DNA analysis and enable rapid genetic testing at a fraction of current costs. The entire budget of the program exceeds $4 million and is entitled "Reference Laboratory LabChip(TM) DNA Diagnostics System."

"Most development of miniaturized DNA diagnostic systems have, to date, focused on point-of-care, battlefield or bedside systems," said Dr. Michael Knapp, Caliper's vice president of science and technology.

"But the largest proportion of clinical testing is performed in highly automated, central testing facilities. The lack of a broadly applicable platform for large volume clinical DNA testing has limited the medical community's ability to access genetic tests which represent a critically important new class of information."

Caliper has already developed high throughput LabChip(TM) microfluidic systems for use in drug discovery applications such as pharmaceutical screening. These systems will be placed in Technology Access Program participant laboratories in the early part of 1999.

The basic microfabrication, processing and detection elements of these high throughput experimentation platforms will be exploited in the DNA diagnostic platform as well. The LabChip(TM) microfluidic diagnostic systems will offer significant advantages of flexibility, cost, precision and information-generating capacity.

"The basic elements of high throughput DNA diagnostics -- reagent accession, parallel processing, sensitive optical detection methods, and other engineering elements -- share important features with research needs we are already pursuing in drug discovery applications," said Dr. J. Wallace Parce, Caliper's vice president of research.

"The ATP program will benefit from many tools we have already built and also provide an impetus to push the technology to the next level of sophistication and throughput. Today, pharmacogenomic information, an application to which this platform is also relevant, is becoming a critical feature of drug discovery as well."

Caliper Technologies designs and manufactures LabChip(TM) microfluidic devices and systems that enable high-throughput experimentation and information access for faster drug discovery, improved medical treatment and more accurate and cost-effective biological and genetic research.

Caliper's LabChip(TM) microfluidic devices process fluid like semiconductors process electrons, executing biological tests in seconds. Experimental data, in digital form, can be stored in databases, accessed via networks and shared by researchers.

With its ability to accelerate experimentation and expand access to information, Caliper's LabChip(TM) microfluidic device technology is dramatically changing the fundamental processes of research, discovery and diagnosis.

Since its incorporation in 1995, Caliper has forged major strategic partnerships and expanded its intellectual property portfolio to become a leader in Lab-on-a-Chip technology. Caliper is commercializing its proprietary LabChip(TM) microfluidic products through strategic relationships that include Hewlett-Packard, Hoffmann-La Roche and Dow Chemical.

Information about Caliper's products and services can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.calipertech.com.