Nanosys Signs Exclusive License Agreement with Yissum, the Research Development Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Adds a Prominent Nanotechnology Researcher to its Scientific Advisory Board

Palo Alto, CA - (June 24, 2003). Nanosys, Inc. announced today that it has signed worldwide exclusive licensing agreements with Yissum Research Development Company, the technology transfer subsidiary of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, to a broad set of intellectual property covering inorganic III-V semiconductor nanomaterials developed by Professor Uri Banin of The Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the Hebrew University. In addition, Dr. Banin, one of world’s leading experts in the synthesis, spectroscopy and fundamental theory of semiconductor nanocrystals, will join the Scientific Advisory Board of Nanosys as an exclusive advisor.

This additional patent portfolio expands Nanosys’s intellectual property foundation to more than 120 patents covering the most fundamental and important aspects of inorganic nanocrystal technology, materials and applications. The Nanosys portfolio contains fundamental nanotechnology developments from leading nanotechnology institutions including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Regents of the University of California, among others. “We are very pleased with the licensing agreement with the Hebrew University, which not only grants us exclusive rights to key patents, but also gives us access to important future technology development at the laboratory”, commented Nanosys Co-founder and CEO, Larry Bock: “The strength and breadth of Nanosys’ intellectual property portfolio in nanotechnology are of critical importance to Nanosys’s mission of leading the burgeoning nanotechnology industry through the successful development and commercialization of nano-enabled systems. We have an intellectual property portfolio that is unparalleled in the nanotechnology industry and we are continuously expanding the portfolio to include exciting new discoveries at both Nanosys and the top nanotechnology research labs around the world.”

Dr. Stephen Empedocles, Co-Founder and Director of Business Development at Nanosys, added: “Dr. Banin is definitely one of the world’s fastest rising stars in the field of nanotechnology and we are very excited to be able to add his talents and expertise to our exclusive Scientific Advisory Board. Our strategy from the beginning has been to bring the brightest and most creative minds in nanoscience and nanotechnology together to focus on a common goal: commercializing nanotechnology and building a new industry around this technology. We will continue to expand this team with the world’s top researchers and commercialization experts to sustain our dominant position in this growing field.”

Dr. Banin adds his expertise in the chemistry and physics of nanomaterials to the already All-Star team of Nanosys’s Scientific Advisory Board, which includes Professors Charles Lieber and Hongkun Park from Harvard University, Professors Paul Alivisatos and Peidong Yang from University of California Berkeley, Professor James Heath from California Institute of Technology, Professor Moungi Bawendi from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Professor Paul McEuen from Cornell University, and Professor Louis Brus from Columbia University. The Scientific Advisory Board provides critical counsel to the scientists and engineers at Nanosys as part of developing nanotechnology-based systems in a variety of different commercial arenas.

Dr. Banin commented: “I am really pleased with the license agreement and look forward to being on Nanosys’s Scientific Advisory Board. Being able to work with many of the leading minds in nanotechnology is an incredible opportunity. Nanosys has a world-class technical and management team as well as a great patent portfolio. It is evident to me that Nanosys is a company that has all the right ingredients to successfully commercialize a broad range of nanotechnologies”.

About Professor Uri Banin

Dr. Banin is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Chemistry and a Co-Director of The Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Dr. Banin is a pioneer in nanoscience and nanotechnology of semiconductor nanocrystals with numerous publications in the filed. He has received a number of awards and fellowships in recognition of his outstanding scientific contribution, including the Intel prize for a Ph.D. student (1992), the prize of the Israel Chemical Society for a graduate student (1993), the Rothschild postdoctoral fellowship (1994-1995), the Fulbright postdoctoral fellowship (1994-1996), the Alon fellowship for young faculty from the Israeli board of higher education (1997-2000), the Yoram Ben-Porat prize from the Hebrew University (2000), and most recently, the Israel Chemical Society prize for a young scientist (2002). Dr. Banin received a B.S. with honors in Physics and Chemistry (1989) and Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry (1994) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

About Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Hebrew University of Jerusalem, founded in 1918, is a large and well-established research and teaching institution in Israel with over 1400 senior faculty members and nearly 23000 full time students. With over 2500 ongoing research projects, the Hebrew University conducts close to 40% of all civilian research in Israel and is one of the world’s leading scientific research institutions. More information can be found at http://www.huji.ac.il.

About Yissum Research Development Company

Yissum Research Development Company, owned by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was established in 1964 with the aim of protecting, promoting and commercializing the University’s accumulated “know-how”. A leader in Israel in its scope of activity, Yissum manages some 800 registered patent files, submits about 50 new requests to register patents every year, and is currently running 200 projects in the fields of Biotechnology, Nanotechnology, Pharmaceutics, Medicine, Chemistry And Physics, Agriculture, Computers and others.

In recent years Yissum has focused on expanding the cooperation between its researchers and various companies, both in Israel and abroad. Noteworthy among its successes was the commercialization of the drug Exelon for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease to Novartis Company, with sales reaching the magnitude of $260 million in 2001.

For more about the company visit their website at: www.yissum.co.il

About Nanosys

Nanosys, Inc. is a rapidly growing advanced technology company, leading the burgeoning nanotechnology industry, through the development of nano-enabled systems. These systems incorporate novel and patent-protected nanostructures that integrate functional complexity directly into each individual nanoparticle, enabling the low-cost fabrication of revolutionary high-value, high-performance applications in a broad range of industries from life and physical sciences to information technology and communications to renewable energy and defense. These nanostructures include nanowires, nanorods, nanotetrapods and nanodots formed from all of the industrially important semiconductor materials (Group II-VI, III-V and IV) as their principal active elements. These systems exploit the fundamentally new and unique electronic, optical, magnetic, interface and integration properties associated with materials on the nanometer-scale. The initial applications include exquisitely sensitive chemical and biological sensors, high performance large area macroelectronics and lightweight high efficiency conformal photovoltaics.

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