Molecular Devices Releases MetaXpress^PowerCore™ and MetaXpress^® 3.0 Cellular Imaging Software

Enhancements Increase Flexibility and High-Content Screening Throughput

SUNNYVALE, CA, April 27, 2009 — Molecular Devices, a leader in innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research, today announced at the Society for Biomolecular Sciences (SBS) Conference and Exhibition 2009 in Lille, France, the availability of the MetaXpress^PowerCore™ and MetaXpress^® 3.0 image acquisition and analysis software. These advancements are designed to accelerate the throughput of High-Content Screening (HCS) and expand toxicity applications to include micronuclei detection.

MetaXpress^PowerCore™ software improves workflow and significantly reduces overall time required for HCS screens by dramatically increasing image analysis speeds. Image analysis is improved by leveraging a novel parallel-processing infrastructure that can be scaled to the user's throughput need. MetaXpress^PowerCore™ software integrates with the existing MetaXpress^® platform and MDCStore™ data-management solution, and is licensed by the number of processes required. MetaXpress^PowerCore™ is compatible with the entire suite of MetaXpress^® application modules.

MetaXpress^® 3.0 software introduces a number of ease-of-use improvements, including new data- management utilities, such as database optimization, data archival and deletion. MetaXpress^® 3.0 analysis is compatible with Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, and runs all of the most recent features of MetaMorph^® 7.6 software.

"Cellular imaging technology has become integral to drug discovery, research and screening, and improvements in flexibility and speed are critical for customers," said Andy Boorn, President of Molecular Devices. "The next milestone for HCS is scaling up to primary screening with imaging technology. Elimination of image analysis bottlenecks with these new products is a major accomplishment toward realizing this goal."

Another enhancement to MetaXpress^® 3.0 software is the release of the Micronuclei Application Module that allows users to find, evaluate and quantitate micronuclei in nucleated cells for HCS. This product uses a proprietary algorithm that is a significant improvement over existing competitive micronuclei detection methods. Using additional probes, this new application module makes it possible for users to additionally differentiate between mitotic, apoptotic, and necrotic cells, expanding the toxicology measurement suite significantly.

Molecular Devices at SBS Conference and Exhibition 2009
MetaXpress^PowerCore™ and MetaXpress^® 3.0 software programs are being presented to attendees at the Society for Biomolecular Sciences Conference and Exhibition 2009, which is being held April 26-30, in Lille, France. Molecular Devices can be found at booth 76.

MetaXpress^® Software
The MetaXpress^® program is based on the MetaMorph® software backbone, and is used to power the suite of cellular imaging instruments and analysis software for automated imaging and HCS. MetaXpress^® software is integrated with a data-management solution, turnkey application modules, and the PowerCore analysis option that increases the flexibility and overall speed of workflow.

About Molecular Devices
Molecular Devices, a business unit of MDS Inc., is focused on the research, design, manufacture and marketing of state-of-the-art tools for mass-spectrometry, drug discovery and bioresearch. Molecular Devices' products are designed to help accelerate the complex process of discovering and developing new drug compounds, and are sold to research scientists around the world. The mass-spectrometer product lines are also sold globally through joint ventures with two of the world's leading analytical instrumentation and life-sciences companies, Life Technologies Corporation and PerkinElmer, Inc. Find out more at www.mdssciex.com or www.moleculardevices.com.

About MDS Inc.
MDS Inc. (TSX: MDS; NYSE: MDZ) is a global life sciences company that provides market-leading products and services that our customers need for the development of drugs and diagnosis and treatment of disease. We are a leading global provider of pharmaceutical contract research, medical isotopes for molecular imaging, radiotherapeutics, and analytical instruments. MDS, Inc. has more than 5,500 highly skilled people in 29 countries. Find out more at www.mdsinc.com or by calling 1-888-MDS-7222, 24 hours a day.

SOURCE: MDS

For further information contact:

Media:
Tom Driscoll
(408) 747-3681
tom.driscoll@moldev.com