LifeFX Extends Relationships with Key Scientists; Doctors Charette and Sagar Extend Contracts Continuing the Development of LifeFX Stand-In Technology.

Business/Technology Editors and Health/Medical Writers

NEWTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 11, 2000

LifeFX, Inc. (NASDAQ:LEFX), a leading developer of life-like virtual people for the Internet, today announced that it will renew contracts with two integral members of its product development team, Dr. Paul Charette and Dr. Mark Sagar. Both men have been instrumental in the development of the unique biologically based facial modeling system technology that is the core of the LifeFX virtual people. They share the title Vice President and Co-Director of Research and Development at the Company and will be based in the Los Angeles office.

Both Dr. Charette and Dr. Sagar have worked with Dr. Ian Hunter, Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Bio-Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and LifeFX board member. Dr. Paul Charette obtained his doctorate degree from McGill University for his work on mechanical studies of biological membranes using laser speckled interferometry, during which he studied with Dr. Ian Hunter. Dr. Sagar completed his Ph.D. in 1996 and was appointed a Post-Doctoral fellowship at Dr. Ian Hunter's laboratory at MIT.

"Through the work of talented scientists like Dr. Charette and Dr. Sagar, LifeFX has added a human element to online communications," said Lucie Salhany, CEO and co-president of LifeFX. "We are fortunate to work with professionals of their caliber and global experience and value their commitment to the technology, and to our company."

About Dr. Paul Charette

Prior to joining LifeFX, Dr. Charette held post-doctoral fellowships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, in the Department of Engineering Science. Dr. Charette has published his work in a number of leading scientific journals and has won numerous prizes and scholarships for his research work.

Dr. Charette is experienced in the areas of precision scientific instrumentation, lasers and optics, parallel computing, numerical methods, image processing and bio-engineering mechanics.

About Dr. Mark Sagar

Dr. Mark Sagar was formerly a member of Professor Peter Hunter's Bio-Engineering group at the University of Auckland, where he developed an anatomically accurate computer model of the human eye combining visual and mechanical realism for use in robotic eye surgery.

Dr. Sagar extended existing computer graphics modeling techniques and developed a new methodology and software for the creation of complex solid-based virtual anatomy for bio-engineering virtual environments. These methods were used to create a photo-realistic biomechanically based virtual model of the heart.

About LifeFX

LifeFX, Inc., a Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE) partner company, is creating the face of the Internet by developing photo-realistic, Stand-In (TM) virtual humans, which can interact in real time. LifeFX Stand-Ins will be used by Web businesses as life-like customer-service and sales representatives, guides, teachers and entertainers, while consumer applications are expected to include e-mail, instant messaging and chat rooms. The LifeFX technology was originally developed for professional medical applications by the University of Auckland, with which LifeFX has an exclusive, worldwide, perpetual license. LifeFX holds three patents and has four pending.

Statements made in this news release, other than those concerning historical information, should be considered forward-looking and subject to various risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are made based on management's belief as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. LifeFX Inc. is a development-stage company with no current revenue. LifeFX Inc.'s future results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements because of a variety of factors, including the ability of the company to implement its business strategy; the ability of the company to achieve the intended benefits of this strategy; the ability of the company to complete development of its technology; the ability of the company to achieve success in forging strategic relationships; adoption of the technology by major consumer and commercial Web sites; the ability of the company to commercialize the technology before competitors; the ability of the company to retain key employees; and those factors identified in LifeFX Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-KSB for the fiscal year ended December 31, 1999, and its quarterly reports on Form 10-QSB and certain additional reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.