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Cambridge, MA and Wetzlar, Germany, May 14, 2007 - Harvard University’s Office of Technology Development (OTD) and Leica Microsystems, a global leader in the optical and opto-electronic industries, today announced that Harvard has licensed its CARS microscopy technology to Leica for use in the company’s confocal microscopes. The technology was developed in the lab of Xiaoliang Sunney Xie, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard.

“This technology has far-reaching implications for helping advance important biomedical research,” stated Isaac T. Kohlberg, Chief Technology Development Officer, Harvard University. “Our agreement with Leica Microsystems is aligned with our strategy to partner with the best and most expert companies who, like us, are dedicated to excellence and quality.”

Martin Haase, Managing Director at Leica Microsystems, emphasized, “We are excited about this collaboration and envision to jointly drive technology and product development for improved imaging capabilities of our clients in the life science research space. This type of collaboration is in full alignment with Leica Microsystems’ strategy of open innovation and will strongly foster commercialization of new and groundbreaking technologies.”

About CARS Microscopy

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy allows rapid and non-perturbative imaging of biological specimens with chemical selectivity. The contrast in CARS microscopy arises from the intrinsic vibrations of molecules. Every molecule has one or more chemical bonds, the bending or stretching of which have characteristic vibrational frequencies that depend on the bond length and strength. For example, lipids, a primary component of fat, contain carbon-hydrogen bonds, which vibrate at certain distinct frequencies. CARS microscopy “tunes” into these characteristic frequencies to build chemically-selective images with extremely high sensitivity in living cells or organisms.

This release includes forward-looking statements. Actual results could vary materially, due to changes in current expectations. The forward-looking statements contained in this announcement concerning demand for products and services, sales and earnings growth, and actions that may be taken to improve financial performance, involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change. Further information about these risks can be found in Rohm and Haas Company's SEC 10-K filing of February 28, 2007.

To image a specimen, such as tissues or cells, CARS microscopy utilizes two highly focused laser beams at different frequencies. By setting the difference between the two laser frequencies equal to the frequency of vibration of a particular chemical bond, molecules with that bond are made to vibrate coherently. This causes the sample to emit at a new frequency (called the "anti-Stokes" frequency) from the laser focus. An image is created by scanning the beams over the sample and detecting the intensity of the emitted anti-Stokes light at each position. In this way, one can map the concentration of the molecule of interest (e.g. lipid) throughout the tissue, or within a cell with 300nm lateral resolution. The method offers much higher time resolution than other vibrational imaging techniques, allowing “movies” of biological activity and chemical processes to be taken within a living cell or organisms.

By using excitation lasers at near-infrared wavelengths, which can penetrate deep into tissue, CARS microscopy can reach a depth of nearly 0.3 mm below the surface. Efforts are underway to extend CARS microscopy for not only cell biology applications, but also disease diagnostics and real-time surgical guidance.

Why CARS Microscopy?

• Detecting the intrinsic vibrational signatures of molecules circumvents the need for fluorescent and other extrinsic labels, and permits “chemical mapping” – visualization of the distribution of specific molecules.
• The high sensitivity of CARS allows for data collection rates orders of magnitude faster than previous vibrational imaging techniques.
• The nonlinear nature of CARS process assures that the signal is generated only at the laser focal point, leading to high resolution 3D imaging of tissue and cellular structures.
• Near-infrared excitation beams allows deeper penetration in tissues than visible light, allowing for noninvasive measurements with minimal photodamage.

“CARS microscopy has matured as a powerful imaging tool for biomedicine. It is complementary to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Although we do no have the penetration depth of MRI, we have much better spatial and time resolutions at a much lower cost,” stated Xiaoliang Sunney Xie, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University.

About Harvard University’s Office of Technology Development

The Harvard Office of Technology Development (OTD) is responsible for all activities pertaining to the evaluation, patenting and licensing of new inventions and discoveries made at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School. OTD also serves to further the development of Harvard technologies through the establishment of sponsored research collaborations with industry. OTD’s mission is to promote the public good by fostering innovation and translating new inventions made at Harvard into useful products available and beneficial to society.

About Leica Microsystems

Leica Microsystems is a leading global designer and producer of innovative, high-tech, precision optical systems for the analysis of microstructures. It is one of the market leaders in each of its business areas: Microscopy, Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy with corresponding Imaging Systems, Specimen Preparation, and Medical Equipment. The company manufactures a broad range of products for numerous applications requiring microscopic imaging, measurement, and analysis. It also offers system solutions for life science including biotechnology and medicine, research and development of raw materials, and industrial quality assurance. The company is represented in over 100 countries with 7 manufacturing facilities in 5 countries, sales and service organizations in 19 countries and an international network of dealers. With its workforce of about 3,050 employees it made a turnover of US$ 651m in 2006. The international management is headquartered in Wetzlar, Germany.