For Immediate Release

BEN FRANKLIN TECHNOLOGY PARTNERS OF SOUTHEASTERN PA APPOINTS TWO NEW DIRECTORS TO THE INVESTMENT GROUP

PHILADELPHIA, PA - February 27, 2006 - Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP) SEP -- an innovative economic development organization that grows the region’s economy through science, technology and entrepreneurship – has added two new directors to its Investment Group. Mark deGrandpre, Ph.D., who has over 20 years of leadership experience and expertise in business development and licensing with Rohm and Haas, has been appointed BFTP/SEP’ s Director, Physical Sciences. Jennifer Helen Hartt, previously Associate Director of Business Development and Equity at the Center for Technology Transfer at the University of Pennsylvania, is the Director, Life Sciences. Both report to BFTP/SEP’s Vice President, Investment Group, Terrence H. Hicks.

“Ben Franklin Technology Partners is very pleased to add two proven professionals with the background and experience of Mark deGrandpre and Jennifer Hartt to the Investment staff,” Hicks said. “Both are very knowledgeable and should contribute significantly to our investment activity...”

At Rohm and Haas, Dr. deGrandpre applied his leadership and technical skills in a variety of positions ranging from Director of Technology for Licensing and New Business Development to Director of Corporate Development and Licensing and Senior Scientist. As Director of Corporate Development for Licensing from 2001 to 2004, deGrandpre was responsible for creating a viable, profitable technology transfer and licensing business for the company. He left Rohm and Haas in 2004 to become Director of Technology and New Business Development for Polysciences, a privately held specialty materials company in Warrington, PA.

deGrandpre earned his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, in 1978; Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), in 1983; and attended the Wharton Graduate Management Program at the University of Pennsylvania, in 1989. He is a member of the Commercial Development and Marketing Association.

Hartt had previously worked since 2001 in progressive positions of responsibility in Penn’s Center for Technology Transfer. She began as Analyst, Life Sciences Licensing and was promoted to Manager, Business Development and Equity in August 2002.In January 2004, she was promoted to Associate Director, also for Business Development and Equity. In this position Hartt led negotiations and consummated licensing agreements for patent rights to university technology. She also negotiated stock purchase and shareholders agreements, and assisted new companies in securing seed funding and angel round financing.

Hartt was awarded her Bachelor of Arts degree (Summa Cum Laude) in biology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2001 and is a candidate for her Master’s degree in biology, also from Penn.

About Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania

Since 1982, Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/SEP) has helped grow the region through science, technology and entrepreneurship. Part of a statewide network in Pennsylvania, BFTP/SEP provides entrepreneurs and established businesses the capital, talent, and expertise they need to compete in the global marketplace. BFTP/SEP has provided more than $110 million to over 1,400 regional enterprises through various funding means. BFTP/SEP is a founding partner of the Nanotechnology Institute™ (NTI) and the Mid-Atlantic Nanotechnology Alliance (MANA®) and is funded by Pennsylvania’s Department of Community and Economic Development.

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