PE Biosystems Forms Proteomics Research Center Announces Two Major Research Collaborations.

Health/Medical Writers and Business Editors

FRAMINGHAM, Mass.--(BW HealthWire)--March 15, 2000

PE Biosystems (NYSE:PEB), a PE Corporation business, today announced the formation of a center for proteomics research at its PerSeptive Biosystems Division here.

The Proteomics Research Center's mission is to define novel tools for proteomics, focus on the advancement of the science of proteomics, and develop practical application-based systems for the fields of research, drug discovery and development, and health care.

Complete genome sequences form the basis for understanding the biology of life. Proteomics, the study of the array of proteins produced by a genome, is an emerging field that is expected to utilize the rapidly expanding wealth of newly available genomic information for a better understanding of complete biological systems. This insight into biology could lead to the identification and development of new therapeutics and diagnostics and significant advances in personalized health care.

"PE Biosystems has long been a leader in instrumentation systems and software for genetic analysis, and Celera Genomics has become a recognized leader in providing genomic information and the tools and services to make that information valuable," said Tony L. White, chairman, president and chief executive officer of PE Corporation. "Proteomics is a key element of our company's vision to understand the logic of biology and its study is uniquely enabled by the synergy between PE Biosystems and Celera. The Proteomics Center in Framingham is a core initiative in this strategy. We intend to apply the same skills and commitment we have devoted to genomics to the field of proteomics by combining efforts from PE Biosystems to create value added systems and from Celera to create comprehensive protein information so that this science achieves the same worldwide scale as genomics."

The Proteomics Research Center will seek to achieve advances in proteomics by integration of state-of-the-art technologies and the implementation of new technologies and concepts. The effort will incorporate PerSeptive Biosystems Division's leadership position in mass spectrometry and related technologies with the technology and expertise of PE Biosystems' other Divisions.

In addition to integrating the broad expertise resident throughout PE Biosystems, the Center will seek to establish agreements with key strategic partners with complementary technology and biological application skills.

As part of its overall proteomics initiative, PE Biosystems today announced research collaborations with the University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland, and the University of Washington, Seattle. Denis Hochstrasser, M.D., professor of medicine at the University of Geneva (UniGE), and his research team will collaborate with PE Biosystems to develop a new generation of integrated proteomics systems. Professor Hochstrasser is a founder of one of the world's leading protein and bioinformatics research centers which includes the department of medical biochemistry at UniGE, the clinical chemistry laboratory at the Geneva University Hospital, The Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), and Geneva Bioinformatics S.A. (GeneBio). The collaboration brings together UniGE's expertise in clinical and research applications with PE Biosystems' mass spectrometry leadership in a manner designed to enable breakthroughs in the development of comprehensive tools for proteomics research, and makes available to PE Biosystems some of UniGE's intellectual property in this area.

PE Biosystems will also collaborate with the University of Washington to develop new chemistries and technology for proteomics applications in a program under the direction of Ruedi Aebersold, Ph.D., professor of Molecular Biotechnology. Under the terms of the agreement, PE Biosystems will obtain exclusive rights to commercialize the proprietary ICAT (Isotope Coded Affinity Tags) technology developed by Dr. Aebersold for the relative quantification of proteins in complex mixtures. ICAT is expected to permit pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical, and academic research scientists to investigate the change in protein expression profiles by using mass spectrometry. Development of the ICAT technology has been supported by the Merck Genome Research Institute and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) innovative technologies program.

"We believe the formation of the Proteomics Research Center is an important first step in bringing worldwide focus to the science of proteomics," said Michael Hunkapiller, Ph.D., president of PE Biosystems. "By integrating the tools and information required for this field, we intend to help the scientific community gain the detailed understanding of biology necessary to bring about dramatic advances in health care. Our initial research collaborations with such world renowned scientists as Drs. Hochstrasser and Aebersold and their respective organizations , as well as others, should significantly enhance our efforts in proteomics."

PE Corporation currently comprises two operating groups. The PE Biosystems Group with sales of $1.2 billion during fiscal 1999, develops and markets instrument-based systems, reagents, software and contract services to the life science industry and research community. PE Biosystems is headquartered in Foster City, Calif., and comprises four divisions: Applied Biosystems, PE Informatics, PerSeptive Biosystems, and Tropix. Celera Genomics Group (NYSE:CRA), headquartered in Rockville, Md., intends to become the definitive source of genomic and related medical information. Information about the company, including reports and other information filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is available on the worldwide web at www.pecorporation.com or by phoning 800/762-6923.

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking. These may be identified by the use of forward-looking words or phrases such as "believe," "expect," "intend," "anticipate," "should," "planned," "estimated," and "potential," among others. These forward-looking statements are based on PE Corporation's current expectations. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for such forward-looking statements. In order to comply with the terms of the safe harbor, PE Corporation notes that a variety of factors could cause actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties that may affect the operations, performance, development, and results of PE Biosystems businesses include but are not limited to (1) rapidly changing technology and dependence on new products; (2) sales dependent on customers' capital spending policies and government-sponsored research; (3) claims for patent infringement; (4) significant overseas operations; (5) future growth strategy; (6) earthquakes; and (7) other factors that might be described from time to time in PE Corporation's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.