IBM, Lynx Therapeutics and the Institute for Systems Biology Announce Study in Systems Biology

SOMERS, N.Y., HAYWARD, Calif., and SEATTLE, June 5, 2003 . . . IBM, Lynx Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: LYNX), and the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) today announced a collaboration to study how cells of the human immune system respond to infectious diseases.

As part of the agreement, Lynx’s Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing, or MPSSTM technology, will be used to generate comprehensive gene expression profiles of human immune system cells provided by the ISB for the study of inflammatory response to microbial infection. IBM will provide middleware for managing, integrating and analyzing the substantial volume of data from this systems biology project. Software licenses include IBM DB2* Universal Database, IBM WebSphere* Studio, which provides an integrated application development environment, and next-generation middleware tools and algorithms being developed by IBM Research for use in life sciences. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

IBM Research’s Computational Biology Center, Lynx, and the ISB have jointly contributed to the experimental design of this project and will collaborate on the analysis of the data from the experiments. The goal of this study is to uncover correlations between activated genes and the cellular response of macrophages to microbial infection. It is expected that the data handling for this project will identify basic IT requirements for computational biology in systems biology research. Macrophages are critical players in the body’s response to microbial infection. When macrophages are activated in an uncontrolled manner they can promote deleterious inflammatory processes such as atherosclerosis, arthritis and septic shock. Activated macrophages are also part of the body’s defense mechanisms against such illnesses as cancer and infectious diseases.

Systems biology involves the analysis of all components of a biological system, which includes an in-depth analysis of how genes are expressed and their complex interactions within a cell, tissue, organ or whole organism. MPSSTM technology is considered an ideal tool for systems biology applications because of its inherent capacity to quantitatively analyze virtually all genes in a sample, including those that are expressed at very low levels.

"IBM's collaboration with Lynx and ISB could lead to new treatments for infectious diseases," said Carol Kovac, Ph.D., general manager, IBM Life Sciences. “The results of this project will yield important data that will serve as a proof point for a systems approach to biology.”

As part of this initiative, Lynx will incorporate IBM middleware and hardware platforms into its internal IT infrastructure and any future instrument sales. Lynx plans to optimize their offerings on DB2 database software and incorporate IBM's DiscoveryLink* data integration technology.

"This combination of cutting-edge technologies from Lynx and IBM will enable us to better analyze and understand the cells in the innate immune system and how they respond in both diseased and non-diseased states," said Alan Aderem, Ph.D., director, Institute for Systems Biology. "Since the innate immune system is involved in heart disease, cancer, autoimmunity and infectious diseases, the data generated through this collaboration may lead to the delineation of novel drug targets and improved therapies."

"We are delighted to be working with IBM and ISB on this systems biology initiative," stated Kevin Corcoran, president and chief executive officer of Lynx. "We believe that the comprehensive and quantitative expression profiles provided by MPSSTM will make this technology the tool-of-choice in biological research."

About IBM Life Sciences
IBM Life Sciences brings together IBM resources, from research, services and e-business expertise to data and storage management and high-performance computing to offer new solutions for the life sciences market, including biotechnology, genomic, e-health, pharmaceutical, and agri-science industries. The fastest way to get more information about IBM Life Sciences is through its Web site, http://www.ibm.com/lifesciences.

About Lynx
Lynx is a leader in the development and application of novel genomics analysis solutions that provide comprehensive and quantitative digital gene expression information important to modern systems biology research in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agricultural industries. These solutions are based on MegacloneTM and MPSSTM, Lynx's unique and proprietary cloning and sequencing technologies. For more information, visit Lynx's web site at www.lynxgen.com.


About the Institute for Systems Biology
The Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) is an internationally renowned nonprofit research institute dedicated to the study and application of systems biology. ISB's goal is to unravel the mysteries of human biology and identify strategies for predicting and preventing diseases such as cancer, diabetes and AIDS. The driving force behind the innovative "systems" approach is the integration of biology, computation, and technology. This approach allows scientists to analyze all of the elements in a system rather than one gene or protein at a time. Located in Seattle, Washington, the Institute has grown to eight faculty and more than 170 staff members; has been awarded $130 million in funding; and has an extensive network of academic and industrial partners. For more information, contact www.systemsbiology.org.



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* Indicates trademark or registered trademark of IBM Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

This press release contains "forward-looking" statements, including statements related to the identification of differentially expressed genes, the potential success of collaboration arrangements, the addition of new collaborations and agreements and Lynx’s performance of its genomics discovery services for current and future customers and collaborators. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "predicts," "expects," "envisions," "hopes," "estimates," "intends," "will," "continue," "may," "potential," "should," "confident," "could" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Lynx to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in Lynx's SEC reports, including its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2003, and its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002. Lynx does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.