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Cambridge, MA and Jena, Germany, May 22, 2007 - Harvard University’s Office of Technology Development (OTD) and Carl Zeiss MicroImaging GmbH, a global leader in the optical and opto-electronic industries, today announced that Harvard has licensed its CARS microscopy technology to Carl Zeiss MicroImaging for use in the company’s confocal and multiphoton microscopes. The technology was developed in the lab of Xiaoliang Sunney Xie, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University.

“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 Carl Zeiss MicroImaging is aligned with our strategy to partner with the best and most expert companies who, like us, are dedicated to excellence and quality.”

Dr. Ulrich Simon, President and CEO of Carl Zeiss MicroImaging GmbH, stated, “Carl Zeiss thoroughly screens for all technologies that promise to put its customers research into a leading position. Professor Xie and his group at Harvard University have pioneered CARS microscopy in a very impressive way. Licensing this technology will allow us to add another highly efficient research tool to our advanced microscopy portfolio.”

About CARS Microscopy

Coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) microscopy allows rapid and nonperturbative 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.

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.

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 Carl Zeiss MicroImaging GmbH

Carl Zeiss MicroImaging GmbH, a 100% subsidiary of the Carl Zeiss Group, offers microscopy solutions and systems for research, laboratories, routine and industrial applications, as well as spectral sensors for the analysis market. The company develops, produces and markets instruments, software and accessories for microscope systems and associated techniques up to and including special solutions for process analysis. During fiscal year 2005/06 the Microscopy Group at Carl Zeiss generated revenues of approximately EUR 340 million with a global workforce of about 1600. Further information is available at www.zeiss.de/micro

Carl Zeiss is a leading international group of companies operating worldwide in the optical and opto-electronic industry. In fiscal year 2005/06 (ended 30 September), the Carl Zeiss Group generated sales totaling EUR 2,433 million. The Carl Zeiss Group has approximately 11,250 employees, including about 3,400 outside Germany. Further information is available under www.zeiss.com/press.