Rolland Carlson, Ph.D. Named CEO of Asuragen, Inc.

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Asuragen Inc., a leading molecular diagnostic company, announced today that Rollie Carlson, previously the President and Chief Operating Officer of the Company, has been appointed President and CEO. Matt Winkler, the founder and prior CEO of Asuragen, will retain the role of Chairman of the Board and Chief Scientific Officer.

"I had a vision of creating a cutting edge molecular diagnostics company using the foundational miRNA intellectual property and novel molecular technology assay development expertise we had developed at Ambion prior to our selling the company to Applied Biosystems (now LIFE Technologies). Asuragen has now developed into a fully-integrated molecular diagnostic provider and this is an ideal time to pass the CEO responsibility to Rollie as we continue our commercial expansion,” said Matt Winkler, Asuragen’s Chairman of the Board. “Rollie joined the Company shortly after its founding and has played a key role in its development. I’m confident that his industry knowledge and leadership capabilities coupled with his energy and enthusiasm will ensure Asuragen continues to grow to the next level.”

Dr. Carlson joined Asuragen in April 2006 as President and has over 25 years of commercial, business development, and new product development experience in biotechnology focused on diagnostic and pharmaceutical applications. He has been responsible for growing Asuragen into one of the top biotechnology companies in Texas and was a founder of Mirna Therapeutics, a spin-off of Asuragen, which is developing novel miRNA-based therapeutics for lung, liver and prostate cancer. Prior to Asuragen Dr. Carlson held several senior positions at Abbott Laboratories, including Vice President and General Manager of the Vysis molecular diagnostic business following its acquisition by Abbott, where he drove significant global growth of the UroVysion® test for early detection of bladder cancer and the PathVysion® HER-2 test - the first molecular companion diagnostic for selection of Herceptin® therapy. He was also responsible for business development, licensing and strategic planning to establish new pharmaceutical and diagnostic platforms, and ran Abbott’s custom biopharmaceutical, specialty generics and global bulk pharmaceutical business.

“I am pleased to be given this expanded opportunity and am grateful to Matt for his continued vision, leadership and guidance,” said Rollie Carlson, Asuragen’s President and CEO. “These are exciting times for Asuragen. We have established an unparalleled platform to develop personalized diagnostics and a first class team that positions us as a unique competitor in the molecular diagnostic space. Having established this foundation, we look forward to driving further expansion of our products and services into the global marketplace.”

About Asuragen

Asuragen is a molecular diagnostics company with a pioneering position in miRNA using genomics to drive better patient management through best-in-class clinical testing solutions. The Company uses a breadth of technologies and talent to discover, develop and commercialize diagnostic products and clinical testing services with efficiency and flexibility both internally and for our companion diagnostic partners. Today, Asuragen’s products, services and technologies drive countless patient management decisions across oncology, genetic disease and other molecular testing modalities. In the future, we envision the Company’s development of miRNA-based clinical diagnostics will help transform medicine by improving clinical outcomes and health economics. For more information, visit www.asuragen.com.

Contact:

Asuragen, Inc.

Rollie Carlson, 512-681-5200

President and CEO

rcarlson@asuragen.com

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