Eppendorf North America and Akonni Biosystems Announce Joint Marketing Agreement

Eppendorf NA to market Akonni TruTip™ solutions for rapid, high-throughput nucleic acid extraction on epMotion® automated pipetting systems

Hauppauge, NY & Frederick, MD — April 26, 2010 — Eppendorf North America and Akonni Biosystems today announced they have entered into a joint marketing agreement to promote Akonni TruTip nucleic acid extraction kits configured for use with Eppendorf epMotion automated pipetting systems. Under the agreement, Eppendorf will promote the extraction kits to clinical, clinical research and forensic laboratories in North America – providing users with access to the industry’s most rapid and reliable means to automatically extract PCR-ready DNA and/or RNA from larger volume samples.

“Eppendorf’s deep experience in developing and manufacturing automated pipetting systems makes them an excellent partner for our high-throughput TruTip nucleic acid extraction solutions,” said Kevin Banks, Ph.D., Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Akonni. “We believe that the combination of the products from both companies has the potential to improve laboratory efficiency by reducing, by 10-fold or more, the time it takes to obtain PCR-ready nucleic acid, for up to 8 simultaneous samples in as few as 4 minutes.”

Andrea Dickstein, Eppendorf North America Director of Marketing, adds, “It is well known that rapid and reliable nucleic acid extraction is a critical early step in detecting diseases and genetic disorders using genomic-based methods, like real time PCR. By combining the rapid extraction methodology used in TruTip with epMotion’s automated pipetting systems, we’ll increase the productivity of our customers by reducing to mere minutes the time it takes to extract DNA or RNA.”

Akonni TruTip uses a patented, nucleic acid binding matrix inserted into the 1000µl Eppendorf pipette tip for the epMotion system. Each TruTip Kit delivered under this agreement includes a rack of 96 x 1000µl TruTip extraction tips with bulk packaged lysis, wash and elution buffers.

Akonni will initially introduce two high-throughput TruTip extraction kits for use on the epMotion systems: one for isolating Influenza RNA from nasal swab and nasopharyngeal aspirate samples, and a second for extracting genomic DNA from saliva. Akonni plans to develop and supply additional kits for the Eppendorf epMotion family of systems in the near future.

For more information on Akonni Biosystems please visit http://www.akonni.com. For more information on Eppendorf NA please visit http://www.epmotion.com.

About Akonni Biosystems

Akonni Biosystems was founded in 2003 and has over 20 patents issued with 13 others pending. The company’s core technology is based on work developed at Argonne National Laboratory and the Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology and utilizes gel-drop array technologies optimized for medical applications. Supported by a series of government grants and contracts from NIH, CDC, DOE, DOD, NIJ, and NSF, the company has significantly advanced the original technology by improving the system’s capabilities from sample preparation to final result. Commercial products and products in its near-term pipeline include rapid sample preparation methodologies for nucleic acid extraction and multiplex panel assays for detecting multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), upper respiratory infections, viral encephalitis, and hospital-acquired infections (MRSA).

About Eppendorf North America

Eppendorf is a biotech company which develops, produces and distributes systems for use in all spheres of life science. The company’s broad range of high quality products and systems is used by researchers worldwide to efficiently carry out their work.

The product range includes pipettes, dispensers and centrifuges as well as consumables such as micro test tubes and pipette tips. In addition to this, Eppendorf provides instruments and systems for automated liquid handling. Even a complete range of devices for DNA amplification for standard PCR or real-time PCR as well as systems for cell manipulation and electroporation are available. New Brunswick Scientific, Edison, USA, stands for expertise and top products within the Eppendorf Group in the field of cell growth, detection and storage.

Eppendorf products are designed for academic and commercial research facilities, but also for industrial companies in the field of biotechnology and in other sectors using biotech research processes. Innovative research approaches will call for miniature applications with an increased sample throughput for future diagnostics and therapy. This implies a trend towards automation and a level of reproducibility for which the company’s high level of technology and expertise will be sought after on the market.

Eppendorf was founded in Hamburg in 1945 and has more than 2500 employees worldwide. The company has subsidiaries in 18 countries and is represented in many other markets by distributors.