Harvard Medical School and Lumera to Collaborate on a New Protein Biochip

Lumera Corporation (NASDAQ:LMRA), a leader in theemerging field of nanotechnology, announced today that is has enteredinto a collaborative agreement with Harvard Medical School (HMS) andthe Harvard Institute of Proteomics, a division of HMS. Under theterms of the agreement, Lumera and HMS will develop a next generationsilicon chip substrate that combines Lumera's NanoCapture(TM)technology with HMS's NAPPA(TM) methodology (nucleic acid programmableprotein arrays). The resultant 10,000-spot very high density proteinarrays are expected to significantly increase the speed of drugdiscovery and life science research.

"The 10,000-spot biochip is a very important step towards ourultimate goal of producing a whole proteome biochip," said JoshuaLaBaer, Director of the Harvard Institute of Proteomics. "As weincrease spot density, we are able to gather more data about proteinsfrom a single experiment." The new Lumera protein arrays are criticalto the bioscience and pharmaceutical markets that need faster methodsfor drug discovery, biomarker discovery and solving complex problemsin systems biology. Using current research methods and materials,array densities of up to about 800 spots are possible. However, withthe new, proprietary Lumera array, researchers will be able to analyzehigh-throughput expression of well over 10,000 discrete proteins, inbiologically-active arrays built from available cDNA libraries.

"Professor LaBaer's work on protein arrays at the HarvardInstitute of Proteomics has been substantial and we believe isrevolutionizing proteomics," said Lumera CEO Tom Mino. "They haveshown the NAPPA platform as an extremely useful tool for biomarkerdiscovery in cancer and diabetes, as well as for cutting-edge homelandbio-defense applications. We are very excited to be working with Dr.LaBaer and his team, as this represents a major milestone for Lumera'sbioscience technology."

HMS's NAPPA methods provide a simple, cost-effective way toproduce, as a single element of a microarray, freshly synthesizedprotein corresponding to any gene of known sequence. Combined withLumera's expertise in surface chemistry, the new biochip is expectedto increase the sensitivity and throughput of the NAPPA technology byincreasing the number of features on the array without sacrificing theamount of protein produced per feature. This avoids the cost and majortechnical difficulties involved in printing protein arrays one proteinat a time.

The Harvard Institute of Proteomics' protein array technology,NAPPA, was first published in the July 2004 issue of the journal,Science. NAPPA starts with a printed cDNA array and generates aself-assembled protein array using a combination of chemistries andbiological methods. A cell free expression mix produces proteins fromthe printed genes. The resulting expression product is immobilized ona surface capture system providing for fresh, easily definable,protein arrays made directly from cDNA libraries, and easily printedwith commonly available equipment and methods. The arrays can bestored and easily handled, very much like today's commonly usedexpression arrays. Protein is produced and captured only when the useris ready to use the array.

Although financial terms were not disclosed, under this agreement,HMS and Lumera will share rights to jointly developed intellectualproperty.

About the Harvard Institute of Proteomics

The Harvard Institute of Proteomics has taken the next step afterthe Human Genome Project by cloning all available human genes in astandard form that enables full-length, high throughput proteinexpression. To study proteins, biologists first need to capture thegenes that encode them and then move those genes into an appropriatecontext for experimental analysis. By developing and applying newresources and technologies, HIP enables the study of proteins on agenome-wide scale using informatics and automation. The Institute hasproduced over fifteen thousand clones to date.

About Lumera

Lumera is a leader in the emerging field of nanotechnology. Thecompany designs proprietary molecular structures and polymer compoundsfor a broad range of bioscience, electro-optic, and specialtynanotechnology applications. The company also has developedproprietary processes for fabricating such devices. For moreinformation, please visit http://www.lumera.com/.

Certain statements contained in this release are forward-lookingstatements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factorsthat could cause actual results to differ materially from thoseprojected in the company's forward-looking statements include thefollowing: market acceptance of our technologies and products; ourability to obtain financing; our financial and technical resourcesrelative to those of our competitors; our ability to keep up withrapid technological change; government regulation of our technologies;our ability to enforce our intellectual property rights and protectour proprietary technologies; the ability to obtain additionalcontract awards and to develop partnership opportunities; the timingof commercial product launches; the ability to achieve key technicalmilestones in key products; and other risk factors identified fromtime to time in the company's SEC reports, including in its AnnualReport on 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003, and its QuarterlyReports on Form 10-Q.