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Cambridge and Amherst, Mass., June 12, 2008 - Harvard University’s Office of Technology Development and SunEthanol, Inc., a biofuels technology company, announced today that they have entered into a new research collaboration agreement to further advance a promising approach for deriving ethanol from biomass.

Under the collaboration, Harvard Medical School researchers will work to develop new genetic strains of a proprietary natural bacterium that SunEthanol is using to convert cellulose into ethanol. SunEthanol is developing the “Q Microbe” – which a member of its team discovered near the Quabbin Reservoir in Central Massachusetts – to produce ethanol from a variety of plentiful biomass feedstocks, including switchgrass, corn stover, wheat straw, sugar cane bagasse, and wood pulp.

Importantly, none of these sources of biomass would be diverted from the food supply, addressing a major limitation to the current use of corn to produce ethanol. In addition, using a microbe to break down cellulose, free fermentable sugars, and convert them to ethanol is an efficient process that promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90% or more over gasoline.

The goal of the Harvard research will be to produce new genetically modified strains that might be capable of delivering higher yields of ethanol than the native source, a critical step in creating an economically viable alternative to the production of ethanol from corn. The research will take place in the laboratory of George Church, PhD, a professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Center for Computational Genetics.

The Church laboratory will apply its significant expertise in DNA synthesis and genome engineering to create modified strains that will then be tested by scientists at SunEthanol for improvements in biomass conversion and ethanol production. SunEthanol will have an option to license any of the strains created under the partnership.

“We are very excited to team with our colleagues at Harvard University to bring their pioneering expertise in genome science to bear on the creation of fuel from biomass,” said SunEthanol founder Jef Sharp. “SunEthanol is well positioned to create a new source of fuel from biomass, and we look forward to collaborating with Harvard to further improve the viability of our approach.”

“This agreement is further evidence of Harvard’s deep commitment to putting its expertise to work in solving the most pressing problems that face society,” said Isaac T. Kohlberg, senior associate provost and chief technology development officer, who heads Harvard's Technology Development Office. “Teaming with a Massachusetts leader in alternative energy illustrates the broad impact that Harvard’s expertise in genetic engineering may have well beyond its traditional applications in medicine.”

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. 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 SunEthanol
SunEthanol’s Q Microbe™ represents a Complete Cellulose Conversion (C3) technology. Instead of the conventional enzyme and yeast process, C3 technology consolidates multiple steps into a single efficient and natural process, resulting in a lower cost of production. Q Microbe™ was discovered by University of Massachusetts Amherst microbiologist, Dr. Susan Leschine, in the soil of New England near the Quabbin Reservoir not far from Amherst, and is being developed for cellulosic ethanol production by the SunEthanol team.