07/22/05

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Tammi Thomas 410-455-6784

UMBC Welcomes Another Biotechnology Company
Lentigen Corporation

BALTIMORE , MD (July 22, 2005) – Lentigen Corporation has joined the techcenter@UMBC Incubator Program. Lentigen is a start-up company that focuses on harnessing the power of Lentiviral vector ( LV ) gene delivery and expression technology for a wide variety of applications in biotechnology and medicine.

“UMBC provides an excellent strategic location to grow our biotechnology company,” says Boro Dropulic, CEO of Lentigen. “We are pleased to be near exceptional talent and research activity relevant to our mission.”

Lentigen's innovative Lentiviral vector technology integrates the advantages of many available gene vectors, affording both high efficiency and stable gene delivery into cells. Lentigen aims to design, construct and manufacture custom Lentiviral vectors for the academic and industrial research market, while simultaneously serving the emerging therapeutic gene therapy market as a cGMP LV manufacturer.

“UMBC's Incubator Program continues to attract outstanding businesses in the biotech and information technology fields, such as recent companies Profectus Biosciences, Blue Wave Semiconductors, and Creative Systems and Design,” says techcenter@UMBC director Walt Schulz. “We are pleased to welcome Lentigen to our thriving technology and research community.”

Dropulic was formerly an adjunct assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the founder and chief scientific officer of VIRxSYS Corporation, where he led a multidisciplinary team to initiate and successfully complete the first LV clinical trial in humans. Dropulic is a member of Infectious Diseases and Industrial Liaison Committees for the American Society of Gene Therapy, and member of the Editorial Board of the Human Gene Therapy journal.

“With more than 10 techcenter@UMBC life science companies, Lentigen will have excellent access to colleagues with similar start-up experiences,” says David Fink, techcenter@UMBC's biotechnology entrepreneur in residence.

About techcenter@UMBC: UMBC's technology incubator, founded in 1989, was expanded in 1996 when UMBC purchased the 30-acre five-building Lockheed Martin Research Lab facility site and renamed it techcenter@UMBC (www.umbc.edu/techcenter). techcenter@UMBC is home to approximately 30 early stage and mature companies.

Phase II is bwtech@UMBC (www.bwtechumbc.com), a 41-acre research and technology community. bwtech@UMBC has a total development capacity of up to 330,000 square feet of office and laboratory space. The park will ultimately comprise five new state-of-the-art buildings occupied by research and technology firms. Both projects combined have over 40 tenants representing diverse technologies ranging from mechanical engineering to pharmaceutical research, from environmental sampling to biotechnology.