IQuum to Present Liat™ Systems and Assays at AACC 2005 Clinical Lab Expo

Allston, MA, July 15, 2005 -- IQuum, Inc. announced today that it will showcase its Liat™ Analyzer and the new Liat FlowCycler™ at the 2005 American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) Clinical Lab Expo. The company will also hold an industry workshop entitled "1 Hour Molecular Diagnostics in Your Lab” to present its proprietary lab-in-a-tube technology and Liat systems, as well as give attendees an opportunity to get hands-on experience on the Liat Analyzer.

“We are very excited about presenting the Liat Analyzer and the Liat FlowCycler to the IVD industry,” said Dr. Shuqi Chen, CEO of IQuum. “Indeed, these systems are realizing IQuum's vision of enabling the less experienced healthcare worker to perform more sophisticated biological sample testing in any setting with greater speed.”

Introduced at the 2004 Clinical Lab Expo, the Liat Analyzer will return as a fully functional sample-to-result nucleic acid test system. Fulfilling a long industry need for easy-to-use, rapid, and sensitive automation for molecular diagnostics, the Liat Analyzer refines nucleic acid testing to three simple steps: collecting a raw biological sample such as whole blood into a Liat Tube, scanning the tube's barcode, and inserting the tube into the Liat Analyzer. Using the reagents pre-packed in the Liat Tube, the Analyzer automatically executes all the required assay steps, including reagent preparation, target enrichment, inhibitor removal, nucleic acid extraction, amplification and real-time detection, and reports quantitative test results on the built-in touch screen in as little as 30 minutes. Most assays, including those for infectious disease, can be completed in around 1 hour.

To demonstrate the capabilities of the Liat Analyzer, IQuum will further present sample-to-result Liat assays on the Liat Analyzer at the exposition. In addition, a hands-on demonstration of the Liat Analyzer will also be given during the one and a half hour long industry workshop. Attendees will receive training on the use of the Liat system to perform nucleic acid testing from raw biological samples, and volunteers will receive hands-on experience with the Liat Analyzer. Attendees will also learn about the benefits of random access nucleic acid testing afforded by the Liat Analyzer, and its impact on reducing laboratory operating cost.

Following in the footsteps of the Liat Analyzer, the Liat FlowCycler will make its debut at this year’s show. Built on the same innovative lab-in-a-tube platform, the Liat FlowCycler is designed for multi-sample rapid PCR thermal cycling. Utilizing flow cycling rather than thermal block ramping, the FlowCycler can complete 30 cycles on a 50μl reaction in as little as 7 minutes, significantly faster then other commercially available thermal cyclers. In addition, the FlowCycler can process up to 48 or 96 samples concurrently in its 2 independent bays. The system is intended to demonstrate the capabilities of the lab-in-a-tube platform to process multiple samples concurrently. Together, the Liat FlowCycler and the Liat Analyzer will allow users to perform both high throughput and random access nucleic acid testing on a uniform platform, thereby streamlining clinical testing for all targets.

The 2005 AACC Clinical Laboratory Expo will be held at the Orange County Convention Center, in Orlando, Florida from July 26-28. IQuum will be located at booth 735. The “1 Hour Molecular Diagnostics in Your Lab” industrial workshop will be held from 6:00-7:30PM on July 27, 2005, at the Peabody Hotel, Orlando Ballroom II.

About AACC

The American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) is an international scientific/medical society of clinical laboratory professionals, physicians, research scientists and other individuals involved with clinical chemistry and other clinical laboratory science-related disciplines. Its annual Clinical Lab Expo is the largest dedicated exhibition of equipment, instruments and services for clinical laboratories in the world.

IQuum is a leader in developing lab-in-a-tube technology, a novel biological sample testing platform intended to provide revolutionary benefits to a broad cross section of the bioassay market. The Company's proprietary technology will enable the less experienced professional to perform more sophisticated biological sample testing in a less expensive setting with greater speed. The lab-in-a-tube platform is the foundation of next generation tools for clinical diagnostics, biodefense, and industrial testing. Founded in 1998, IQuum is located in the Boston metropolitan area in Massachusetts. For more information, please visit www.IQuum.com.

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