Press Release

PROTEIN DISCOVERY, INC. Awarded Two Phase I Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Grants from the National Institutes of Health

Knoxville, TN, September 30, 2003—Protein Discovery, Inc. announced today that it has been awarded two Phase I SBIR grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The company will receive $100,471 from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and $100,000 from the National Institutes on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Both grants will be used to further develop the company’s proprietary technology for the preparation and analysis of complex biological samples.

The first grant was awarded by NCI and will be used to develop an advanced multi-dimensional chromatography system for the separation of complex mixtures of biomolecules. The technology, developed in collaboration with some of the world’s foremost experts on separations, offers the potential of previously unattainable separation resolution and throughput. If successful during Phase I, the company will be eligible for an additional $750,000 in Phase II funding to commercialize the technology.

The second grant was awarded by NIDA and will be used to further develop the company’s proprietary Molecular Comb technology for extremely fast and high resolution protein expression profiling. The technology was invented by Dr. Thomas Thundat, who is a member of the company’s Scientific Advisory Board, and has been licensed exclusively to Protein Discovery from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. If successful during the Phase I effort, the company will be eligible for an additional $750,000 in Phase II support from NIDA to commercialize the technology.

“We are exremely pleased by this support from NIH,” stated Chuck Witkowski, President and Chief Executive Officer of Protein Discovery. “These agencies are among the most prestigous in the country and their SBIR selection process is perhaps the most competitive. We are thrilled to work in concert with NIH in applying our innovative and powerful technology to the unique problems associated with cancer and drug abuse research. This funding is a further testiment to our technology, team and commercial vision.”

About Protein Discovery Protein Discovery is a life sciences company developing turnkey systems for the rapid identification of protein and peptide expression patterns used in clinical research, drug discovery, and diagnostics. The company’s technology addresses key challenges facing protein research today, including the identification of low copy number molecules contained in complex biological samples such as serum. These types of tools are required by clinical researchers to better understand the molecular basis for disease and cost-effectively develop successful diagnostics and pharmaceutical drug treatments. Protein Discovery has received support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation (NSF), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Southeast Community Capital Corporation, and Memphis Biomed Ventures I, L.P. The Company is located in Knoxville, Tennessee.

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