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454 Life Sciences, a majority-owned subsidiary of CuraGen Corporation, today announced that the Company has received a two-year, $2.4 million grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant will help fund the scale up of 454 Life Sciences' technology toward sequencing of larger genomes, such as fungi, as an important step towards the goal of developing measurement systems that routinely and cost-effectively sequence an individual's personal human genome on a newly developed proprietary PicoTiter plate the size of a credit card. "We are grateful to have support from the NHGRI and NIH. This grant validates our position as a leader in developing whole genome sequencing technologies and instrumentations," stated Richard F. Begley, Ph.D., President and CEO of 454 Life Sciences. "We have been able to use the new method we developed to routinely sequence whole bacterial genomes and have started the commercialization of our instruments and services for whole genome sequencing of emerging pathogens. This grant will allow us to further extend our lead in the race to make the sequencing of personal human genomes routine." The grant, titled "Massively Parallel High Throughput, Low Cost Sequencing," will support the scale up of 454 Life Sciences' technology by: further reducing the size of the sub-nanoliter wells and achieving over 2 million wells on a 2.5 square inch next generation PicoTiter(TM) plate; significantly reducing the cost per base; and applying systems improvements to sequence a whole fungal genome and large sections of a human genome. Similar to the evolution of the semiconductor industry, the research supported by this grant is focused on continuing to improve the density of the number of reactions we can perform in parallel while simultaneously reducing costs. Currently up to 4 sequencing reactions are performed in the area covered by the tip of a human hair. Through miniaturization of the sequencing reaction, speed of light based sequencing chemistries, and state of the art image processing and informatics, 454 Life Sciences is currently able to sequence whole genomes up to 100 times faster than currently available systems. The Company's technology is the first solid-phase sequencing technology designed to scale from viral to bacterial and ultimately to human genomes. The Company's technology enables one individual to not only prepare, but also sequence a genome after performing only one sample preparation, irrespective of the size of the genome being investigated. This approach is in stark contrast to standard sequencing methods that are significantly more expensive and laborious. For example, to sequence the first human genome, the effort required approximately 60 million sample preparations, 12 years, and $2.7 billion dollars. Smaller than the prefix nano which denotes a billionth of a part, a picoliter is a sub-nanoliter measure denoting a trillionth of a liter, or 10 to the negative 12th power of a liter represented numerically as 0.000000000001 liter. Nanoliters and picoliters are typically used in microfluidics, an emerging branch of nanotechnology dealing with extremely low volumes of liquids. Microfluidics can now accomplish in square centimeters and for orders of magnitude less cost what used to take hundreds of square feet of traditional laboratory space. NHGRI is one of the 27 institutes and centers at the National Institutes of Health. Its primary mission is to foster research into the structure, function, and role of the human genome. The Institute supports research that will accelerate genome research and its application to human health. Additional information is available at http://www.nhgri.nih.gov/. 454 Life Sciences is developing novel instrumentation and sub-nanoliter technologies for rapidly and comprehensively determining the nucleotide sequence -- "whole genome sequencing" -- of entire viral, bacterial, and human genomes. In 2003, 454 Life Sciences sequenced the adenovirus genome in less than one day and submitted the completed sequence to GenBank(R), becoming the first to develop a new method and to successfully complete a whole genome sequence since Walter Gilbert and Frederick Sanger won the Nobel Prize in 1980 for the invention of DNA sequencing. The Company's proprietary technology is expected to have widespread applications in drug discovery and development, disease diagnosis, animal health, biodefense, agriculture, and industrial processes. 454 Life Sciences is a majority owned subsidiary of CuraGen Corporation. Additional information is available at http://www.454.com/. CuraGen Corporation (NASDAQ:CRGN) is a genomics-based pharmaceutical company dedicated to improving the lives of patients by developing a pipeline of novel protein, antibody, and small molecule therapeutics in the areas of oncology, inflammation, obesity and diabetes, and central nervous system disorders. CuraGen's therapeutics are based on internally discovered genes from the human genome that are believed to play a role in important mechanisms underlying disease, including cell proliferation, anti-angiogenesis and peripheral metabolism. CuraGen has established broad development alliances with Abgenix and Bayer, and its experienced preclinical and clinical teams are rapidly advancing the Company's pipeline of products for unmet medical needs. CuraGen's expertise in systems biology, genomics and bioinformatics is now being used to prioritize therapeutic candidates with the highest chance of reaching the market and to help predict efficacy and safety in clinical trials. CuraGen's technology and expertise has been used in partnerships with more than a dozen leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies including Bayer, Biogen, Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, Hoffmann-La Roche and Pfizer. The Company is headquartered in New Haven, CT and additional information is available at http://www.curagen.com/.