July 15, 2002

MESOSYSTEMS TECHNOLOGY TO JOIN ARDESTA FAMILY OF COMPANIES

Company Develops and Manufactures Products for the Homeland Defense Market

ANN ARBOR, MI., February 5, 2002-Ardesta LLC (www.ardesta.com) has made a three million dollar investment in MesoSystems Technology Inc., a biotechnology company that with its partners, offers a complete biodefense system solution to identify harmful airborne biological organisms, such as anthrax. This Series A preferred round investment will enable MesoSystems to invest in human and working capital for product development, manufacturing, marketing, sales, customer service and associated infrastructure to support the company's rapid growth.

MesoSystems, founded in 1997, is a market-leading biodefense company specializing in the development and manufacture of systems for the assessment and mitigation of environmental biological hazards. The company's products enable its customers to determine if people are being threatened by or have been exposed to harmful organisms. MesoSystems has offices in Kennewick and Seattle, Washington and Albuquerque, New Mexico and can be found on the web at www.mesosystems.com.

"MesoSystems is a great example of a Small Tech company that has transferred its technical expertise in microfluidics, microbiology and engineering into commercial success," Rick Snyder, Ardesta's CEO said. "Their revenue has doubled every year," he added.

In October of 2001, the Puget Sound Business Journal ranked MesoSystems Technology as one of the fastest growing private companies in the state of Washington.

"From day one, we established aggressive technical and business goals. We set the bar high, positioning ourselves to become the industry leader delivering state-of-the-art bioaerosol sampling products to the homeland defense community," said Dr. Charles Call, CEO of MesoSystems.

MesoSystems currently has two commercial bio-aerosol sampling products:

  • BioCapture™, a portable device that concentrates airborne bacteria into a concentrated liquid sample, which can then be easily analyzed; and the
  • MicroVIC® Particle Concentrator, a front-end virtual impactor that concentrates airborne biological particles in the 1-10 micron size range

The same underlying technologies are being integrated and packaged into other products for broader market applications, including mailrooms and ventilation systems.

About Ardesta LLC

Ardesta is an Industry Accelerator™ dedicated to developing the Small Tech industry. The company is building a portfolio of great companies by investing in start-ups and early stage companies; providing business and technical resources to support these companies; and developing industry-building resources. The company's web site is www.ardesta.com. Other companies in Ardesta's family include Discera, Sensicore, Translume and HandyLab of Ann Arbor, Mich.; Ion Optics of Waltham, Mass.; Micronics of Redmond, Wash.; Sarcon Microsystems of Knoxville, Tenn. and TheraFuse of Vista, Calif. Ardesta has offices in Ann Arbor, Mich. and Albuquerque, New Mexico.