EXHIBIT 99.1

               LYNX COMPLETES $4 MILLION PRIVATE EQUITY FINANCING

HAYWARD, CALIF. - JANUARY 2, 2004 - Lynx Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: LYNX)
announced today it has completed a $4 million private financing of common stock
and warrants for common stock. The financing included the sale of 800,000 newly
issued shares of common stock at $5.00 per share and the issuance of warrants to
purchase 200,000 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $6.25 per share.
The price per share of common stock for this financing was based on the average
of the volume-weighted average price for the 10 consecutive trading days prior
to the completion of the financing.

The private placement was made to certain independent institutional investors.
Lynx will file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission a resale
registration statement relating to the common stock to be issued in the
transaction and the shares to be issued upon the exercise of the warrants.

"We are focused on expanding the commercial usage of our Massively Parallel
Signature Sequencing, or MPSSTM, technology, and this financing is expected to
further support our efforts," said Kevin P. Corcoran, Lynx's President and Chief
Executive Officer. "While we are committed to improving our financial position
through revenue generated from both existing and new customer, collaborator and
licensee relationships, we plan to continue considering various financing
opportunities."

About Lynx

Lynx is a leader in the development and application of novel genomics analysis
solutions that provide comprehensive and quantitative digital gene expression
information important to modern systems biology research in the pharmaceutical,
biotechnology and agricultural industries. These solutions are based on
Megaclone(TM) and MPSS(TM), Lynx's unique and proprietary cloning and sequencing
technologies. For more information, visit Lynx's web site at www.lynxgen.com.

This press release contains "forward-looking" statements, including statements
related to the expected use of the proceeds from this financing, the potential
success under existing customer, collaboration and license arrangements, and the
expansion and success of Lynx's commercial applications of its genomics
technologies. Any statements contained in this press release that are not
statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements.
Words such as "believes," "feels," "anticipates," "plans," "predicts,"
"expects," "estimates," "intends," "will," "continue," "may," "should" and
similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There
are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Lynx to differ
materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including,
among others, risks detailed from time to time in Lynx's SEC reports, including
its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2003 and
its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002, as amended.
Lynx does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.



THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT AN OFFER TO SELL, OR A SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY,
THE SECURITIES DISCUSSED HEREIN. THESE SECURITIES HAVE NOT BEEN REGISTERED UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED, AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED AND SOLD IN THE
UNITED STATES UNLESS REGISTERED UNDER SUCH ACT OR AN EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION
IS AVAILABLE.

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