Invitrogen and Greiner Bio-One Team to Increase HPV Test Reliability

Invitrogen Corporation (NASDAQ:IVGN), a provider of essential life science technologies for disease research and drug discovery, and Greiner Bio-One, an internationally leading technology partner for the diagnostics and pharmaceutical industry, have finalized a licensing agreement to help improve the reliability of Greiner Bio-One's HPV-DNA-test PapilloCheck(R) and DNA-array CytoCheck(R) products. The agreement covers the rights for the use of dUTP (deoxyuridine triphosphate) in PCR-based (polymerase chain reaction) methods to prevent sample contamination by amplification products in aerosols.

"The overall benefit of using the Invitrogen dUTP during the PCR is that false-positive results are reliably prevented at the beginning of the procedure, while the genuine sample DNA remains intact," said Heinz Schmid, Greiner Bio-One managing director.

In order to avoid false-positives for PCR-based methods, Greiner Bio-One is incorporating into two of its DNA-arrays a procedure patented by Invitrogen for preventing PCR carryover contamination. During the PCR, dUTP is used instead of dTTP (deoxythymidine triphosphate). Any potential carried-over contaminating PCR-products can then be selectively degraded before starting a new reaction by the addition of the enzyme Uracil-DNA-glycosylase.

"Greiner Bio-One's HPV test will now deliver more reliable results for women who may need to be treated for HPV, which is the leading cause of cervical cancer," said Amy Butler, Invitrogen vice president of gene expression profiling. "Licensing patented technologies like dUTP is allowing Invitrogen to assist diagnostic companies around the world to improve the sensitivity and specificity of their offerings."

Beginning in June, Greiner Bio-One will deliver the product kits for PapilloCheck(R) with dUTP in the MasterMix, and it will be included in the product kits for CytoCheck(R) this fall.

About Invitrogen

Invitrogen Corporation (Nasdaq:IVGN) provides products and services that support academic and government research institutions and pharmaceutical and biotech companies worldwide in their efforts to improve the human condition. The company provides essential life science technologies for disease research, drug discovery, and commercial bioproduction. Invitrogen's own research and development efforts are focused on breakthrough innovation in all major areas of biological discovery including functional genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and cell biology -- placing Invitrogen's products in nearly every major laboratory in the world. Founded in 1987, Invitrogen is headquartered in Carlsbad, California, and conducts business in more than 70 countries around the world. The company is celebrating 20 years of accelerating scientific discovery. Invitrogen globally employs approximately 4,300 scientists and other professionals and had revenues of more than $1.15 billion in 2006. For more information, visit www.invitrogen.com

About Greiner Bio-One GmbH - BioScience Group

The BioScience division of Greiner Bio-One International - Greiner Bio-One GmbH based in Frickenhausen Germany - has developed as a leading technology partner to academia, research establishments, diagnostic, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries on a global basis. The foundation for this evolution was laid by Greiner Labortechnik through the ongoing innovative use of modern polymers for laboratory and scientific applications. Today, the BioScience division in conjunction with its sister company Greiner Bio-One Preanalytics based at Kremsmunster in Austria has over 1200 employees and generates a turnover in excess of 218.5 million euro per year. With 19 subsidiary companies and an established network of sales and distribution partners, the group has a presence in over 100 countries. The successful BioScience product range provides highly innovative and novel solutions for research applications such as High-Throughput Screening for novel therapeutic agents in the pharmaceutical industry as well as protein coated cell culture products and the development of DNA-Chip technologies for diagnostics.