World's Largest Family Cord Blood Bank Adopts GE Healthcare System for Processing Cord Blood

Business Wire, August 22, 2006

CHALFONT ST. GILES, England -- GE Healthcare, a subsidiary of the General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) and Cord Blood Registry (CBR) announced today that CBR is automating the key production steps for their cord blood stem cell units using GE Healthcare's AutoXpress(TM) System. AutoXpress is an automated, functionally-closed, sterile system that harvests mononuclear cell fraction from cord blood, capturing the stem cell rich portion of the blood into a final volume of product that is defined by the user. The AutoXpress technology platform products were developed by ThermoGenesis Corp. (Nasdaq: KOOL) and are now distributed exclusively by GE Healthcare to customers all over the world.

"CBR is committed to providing our clients with the highest quality processing and storage of their child's new born stem cells, and we are continuously investigating new technologies to improve the effectiveness with which these precious stem cells are harvested from the collected umbilical cord blood," said Tom Moore, CBR's Chief Executive Officer. "After rigorous testing at our facility, we have determined that when combined with our proprietary collection technology, the AutoXpress System consistently recovers a median of 99% of the stem cell-rich mononuclear cell (MNC) population from units of collected cord blood. This is a remarkable accomplishment and a significant improvement over the 75 - 90% recoveries practiced by many public and family cord blood banks and reported in peer-review journal reports."

According to Ann O'Hara, general manager of Bioprocess at GE Healthcare, "The AXP product platform was designed to improve the quality and consistency of cord blood stem cell units therefore improving the probability of good patient outcomes. We are very pleased that CBR, in particular, has chosen the AXP technology as it is strong affirmation of both the platform's capabilities and its use at very large scale."

About Cord Blood Registry

Cord Blood Registry is a registered trademark of CBR Systems, Inc., the leader in newborn stem cell processing and cryopreservation for familial use in transplantation and regenerative medicine. The stem cells preserved by CBR are collected immediately after the birth of a newborn and are then available to be used in treatments for the newborn, siblings, and any compatible genetic family member. Once transplanted, the cells have the potential to repair damaged or diseased tissues with little risk of rejection and increased long-term survival. The company's research and development is focused on advancing the collection, processing, and storage methods to optimize quality and cell yield. Additionally, CBR facilitates collection of donated research samples, available for the nearly 200 research programs worldwide that are focused on stem cell expansion and cell-based therapies. For more information, visit http://www.cordblood.com, or call 1-888-CORD-BLOOD.

About GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, performance improvement, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies is helping clinicians around the world re-imagine new ways to predict, diagnose, inform and treat disease, so their patients can live their lives to the fullest.

GE Healthcare's broad range of products and services enable healthcare providers to better diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease, neurological diseases, and other conditions earlier. Our vision for the future is to enable a new "early health" model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a $15 billion unit of General Electric Company (NYSE:GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employs more than 43,000 people committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.