Friday, February 8, 2002
SOURCE: AgraQuest, Inc.

AgraQuest, UCSD Awarded Joint BioSTAR Grant
Investigation of Deep Marine Sediment Microbes for Potential as Crop Protection Products

DAVIS, Calif. -- AgraQuest, Inc. announced today a new research initiative with the University of California, San Diego, funded in part by a BioStar (Biotechnology Strategic Targets for Alliances in Research) award. The joint funding will support research aimed at investigating deep marine sediment microbes for use as biological pest management solutions for controlling fungal disease, insects and nematodes. The research will be carried out in collaboration with the laboratory of Dr. William Fenical (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD), a professor internationally renowned for his important discoveries of new pharmaceuticals from naturally occurring marine microorganisms. Through novel sampling, isolation and culture techniques, Dr. Fenical's laboratory has discovered a new group of marine microorganisms that have never been tested as crop protection agents. This gives AgraQuest, Inc. a unique source of biologically active agents for development of new products for pest management.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000301/AGRALOGO )

``AgraQuest is pleased to have exclusive access to this newly discovered source of microbes for use in crop protection. While our first product, Serenade®, was developed from a soil microorganism, there is much potential in accessing novel microbial diversity for future product development,'' said Pam Marrone, CEO of AgraQuest, Inc. ``In addition to our own discovery efforts, collaborating with the leading natural product researchers is our strategy to become the leader in the area of natural product solutions for pest management.''

``We are pleased to have a good outlet in the pest management arena for this exciting new group of microorganisms,'' said Dr. Fenical.

Founded in 1996, the Industry University Cooperative Research Program (IUCRP) administers BioStar grants to fund research undertaken in partnership with the private sector to yield benefits for the California economy. This has helped California businesses to successfully transform new knowledge from University labs into new technologies and products providing a foundation for job growth and economic expansion.

AgraQuest is a biotechnology company that focuses on discovering, developing, manufacturing and marketing effective, safe and environmentally friendly natural pest management products for the agricultural, institutional, and home markets. AgraQuest is developing and commercializing a pipeline of natural pest management products, including its first product, Serenade®, and believes that its proprietary technology platform will be the foundation for the discovery and development of natural products for the pest management industry. In keeping with AgraQuest's strategy to access the most innovative and promising natural products technology, AgraQuest recently licensed a novel microorganism from Dr. Gary Strobel (Montana State University) that is a biofumigant and a potential replacement for methyl bromide.

Certain matters contained in this press release concerning AgraQuest, Inc. are forward-looking statements which are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the receipt of EPA and other regulatory approval of the Company's products, the success of the Company's products in field trials, and the timely development, manufacture and marketing and acceptance of the Company's products in the marketplace.

SOURCE: AgraQuest, Inc.