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New Haven, Conn., Oct. 12, 2006 – A presentation on sequencing the genome of Neandertal man will highlight the CURE annual meeting, to be held Oct 19 at 4:00 p.m. at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford.

Chris MacLeod, president and CEO of 454 Life Sciences Corporation, will make the presentation. The company, a majority-owned subsidiary of Branford-based CuraGen Corporation, is collaborating with the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig to complete the sequencing using 454 Life Sciences' Genome Sequencer 20 System™.

The CURE annual meeting will include an update on the state of the bioscience cluster in Connecticut by CURE president and CEO Paul Pescatello, who will also recognize volunteers whose time and effort have made a critical difference to Connecticut’s leadership in the biosciences.

The ability to rapidly sequence individual genomes using technologies such as the 454 Life Sciences system will one day be an important part of medicine, experts say, since it will allow treatment of patients based on their individual genetic makeup. Interest in the area has increased since the X Prize Foundation, the same people who spurred private spaceflight, announced it will give $10 million to the first company that can process the genetic codes of 100 people in just 10 days.

The CURE annual meeting is part of the Alliance for Connecticut Technology Innovation Day and Award Dinner being held at the Convention Center from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Oct 19. Organized by CURE and 14 other organizations, the event consists of workshops, meetings, and the Innovation Fair, a poster session showcasing the state's most innovative companies, entrepreneurs, researchers and inventors. At a gala dinner, the prestigious State of Connecticut Medal of Technology and other awards will be presented.

Connecticut’s BioBus, the award-winning mobile science laboratory on wheels, will be on hand throughout the day to explain the curriculum it uses to introduce schoolchildren and adults to the experience of laboratory bioscience.

CURE (http://www.curenet.org) is a statewide coalition of over 100 educational and research institutions, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and other supporting businesses. It is dedicated to promoting the growth of, and increasing public understanding of, biomedical research and science in Connecticut.