Research Triangle Park, N.C., May 6, 2002 -- SciQuest, Inc. (NASDAQ: SQST), a software, information and services company that provides solutions to enhance research operations for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other research-based organizations, today announced the release of Version 2.5 of Gene Construction Kit, the award-winning software for molecular biologists developed by Textco, a company recently acquired by SciQuest.

Gene Construction Kit™ (GCK), with its intuitive graphical interface, is a unique DNA manipulation, cloning design, and illustration tool which provides molecular biologists with an innovative way to design and track the complex process of gene cloning projects. By using GCK's desktop cloning approach to experimental design, researchers can increase productivity and reduce research materials costs. To date, researchers at 12 of the top 20 pharmaceutical research organizations, 6 of the top 10 biotechnology companies and many of the leading research universities utilize GCK.The major enhancements to functionality in version 2.5 include:

• A new Deluxe Importer Module that contains comprehensive features to allow integrated GenBank and EMBL searching and file retrieval over the Internet with importing directly into Gene Construction Kit.

• A new customizable interface converts all GenBank and EMBL features ‘one-to-one’ to graphical GCK features, enabling molecular biologists to easily work with the latest DNA sequence information available via the Internet.

• Version 2.5 has been carbonized to run natively in Mac OS X allowing users to take full advantage of the new features of this robust operating system, including the powerful graphics engine, Aqua user interface, and improved stability and performance.

• The new version release of Gene Construction Kit is compatible with both Windows and Macintosh platforms. The feature set of GCK version 2.5 on both platforms is the same, and Gene Construction Kit files created on either platform can be read by GCK 2.5 on the opposite platform, simplifying collaborations and data exchange.

“The Deluxe Importer Module of Version 2.5 will provide users with a simple way to create, maintain, and exchange graphical representations of any of the sequences from the human genome project,” said Dr. Gross.

“With the carbonization of Gene Construction Kit, we have capitalized on the power of Mac OS X, and its Aqua interface, to provide an invaluable tool for scientists to work with gene sequences on their Macs in ways never before possible,” commented Dr. Gross. “We are very excited to offer the ability to manipulate and examine human genome sequences in such a graphically expressive environment."

A demo version of Gene Construction Kit is available for download.

About SciQuest

SciQuest is a software, information and services company that provides solutions to enhance research operations for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other research-based organizations. SciQuest is focused on enabling researchers and their organizations to reduce costs, improve efficiencies, increase quality and speed the process of research.

The Company’s solutions are specifically designed to help scientists find, acquire and manage the critical research materials they use. These materials include chemical and biological compounds, laboratory supplies, and equipment.

SciQuest also helps the suppliers of research materials to better service their customers through enhanced marketing channels and enriched product information.

The Company’s solutions can be utilized independently or integrated with leading software, automation equipment and supplier systems to enhance innovation, reduce costs and improve operational effectiveness.

Customers of SciQuest include many of the world’s leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, chemical, academic and research organizations, such as Abbott Laboratories, Aventis, Bayer (Aventis CropScience), The Burnham Institute, Corixa, Eisai Research Institute, FMC, GlaxoSmithKline, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Roche, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble and Schering-Plough. SciQuest is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, N.C., with offices in Philadelphia and London. For more information about SciQuest, please visit www.sciquest.com or call +1-919-659-2100.

SciQuest is a registered trademark of SciQuest, Inc. Enterprise Reagent Manager, Enterprise Substance Manager, ERM Fast Track, ERM Fast Track Plus, SelectSite, SelectSite SRA, SelectSite APA, Gene Construction Kit and Gene Inspector are trademarks of SciQuest, Inc.

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including all statements regarding GCK 2.5. For such statements, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The potential risks and uncertainties associated with these forward-looking statements could cause actual results to differ materially from those presented herein, and the reported results should not be considered as an indication of future performance. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements are discussed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended December 31, 2001, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, under the caption “Factors That May Affect Future Results”.

SciQuest Contacts:

Textco, Inc. has been developing high quality molecular biology software for the Macintosh since 1984.