[December 05, 2012]

CryoXtract Instruments, a leading provider of automated solutions for preserving and optimizing frozen biological samples, appoints veteran John A. McCarthy, Jr. as Chief Executive Officer to drive commercial and corporate growth.

CryoXtract Instruments, LLC, a leader in developing unique automation solutions for preserving and optimizing frozen biological samples, announced today that John A. McCarthy, Jr. has joined CryoXtract as Chief Executive Officer to drive its broad commercial plans, including important strategic partnership opportunities.

Mr. McCarthy is a highly seasoned executive having led the transformational growth of numerous science- and technology-based companies over the past twenty years from early-stage organizations into successful commercial entities, both in the private and public markets. Mr. McCarthy's track record includes successfully raising over $1 billion of capital across the capital markets, as well as developing, executing and managing numerous precedent-setting strategic corporate partnerships.

CryoXtract has developed and is commercializing a unique fully automated technology platform that enables the aliquotting of frozen biosamples critical to the advancement of molecular medicine, biomarker discovery/validation and other important R&D initiatives, while preserving the biosamples in a -80^oC environment throughout the entire process. In May 2012, the International Society for Biological and Environmental Biorepositories (ISBER) awarded its prestigious Outstanding New Product Award to the Company's CXT 750 Frozen Sample Aliquotter.

Today, access to frozen biosamples is typically achieved by thawing the entire stored primary sample, aliguotting the amount needed for scientific purposes, and then refreezing the primary sample. By eliminating repeated exposure of frozen biosamples to freeze/thaw cycles, the CryoXtract technology allows efficient access to these highly valuable frozen biosamples for important research and discovery, while preserving the integrity of the original parent sample for future use, and streamlining sample processing and lab efficiency through automation.

The Handbook of Human Tissue Sources published by RAND in 1999 reported that there were more than 300 million biological samples being stored in the U.S. alone across governmental agencies, academic institutions, major research organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and commercial biorepositories. It was further estimated that the annual growth in biological samples would approximate 20 million new biosamples each year. Today, ccording to Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert), there are an estimated 1 billion such biological samples stored worldwide, with an estimated 100 million biosamples being added each year to biorepositories across the world. Given the rapid acceleration in personalized medicine initiatives and increasing complexity of scientific discovery, the ability to provide the scientific community with efficient access to valuable biosamples while preserving the biological integrity of such biosamples will be of paramount importance.

The frozen sample aliquotting technology originally used by CryoXtract was developed by researchers at Harvard University Medical School and Northeastern University. The foundational technology was exclusively licensed by Allied Minds Inc., a private investment firm in Boston that forms, funds and builds start-ups based on early-stage technologies from renowned university and federal research centers.

"CryoXtract represents one of Allied Minds' most important commercial-stage companies in our portfolio, and is now positioned to provide the scientific community with an important and unique set of solutions to support major R&D initiatives throughout the world," stated Dr. Omar Amirana, Managing Director and Head of Life Sciences at Allied Minds. "At this important commercial and corporate inflection point for CryoXtract, I'm thrilled to have John join us to lead and accelerate the Company's broad commercial plans. Having known John and his successful track record of corporate transformation for many years, I'm confident that he brings the ideal skill set to CryoXtract to create meaningful value for Allied Minds and the scientific community."

"I'm very pleased to join CryoXtract at this important stage of its commercial development," stated Mr. McCarthy. "Major scientific trends and increasingly complex discovery initiatives will require a rapid evolution of biosample storage, access and management across many different segments of the broad life sciences industry. CryoXtract's automation-based solutions, together with complementary solutions from potential strategic corporate partners, are well positioned to address the critical importance and increasing requirement for the preservation of biosample integrity. I look forward to working closely with Allied Minds and accelerating the great work that's been done to date by the CryoXtract team to exploit the opportunity in front of us."

Prior to joining CryoXtract, Mr. McCarthy was President and CEO of Qteros, Inc., a leading technology company in the alternative energy industry that was partnered with some of the industry's top global organizations. Before Qteros, Mr. McCarthy served in varying executive positions at, among others, Microbia Inc., Verenium Corporation, Synta Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Exact Sciences Corporation. Mr. McCarthy graduated with high honors from Lehigh University and received an MBA degree from the Harvard Business School.

About CryoXtract Instruments, LLC

CryoXtract develops and commercializes unique automation solutions that allow for the retrieval of multiple frozen samples from a single frozen biosample without exposing the source sample to the deleterious biological impact from freeze/thaw cycling. The Company's novel automation technology platform improves frozen biosample processing, protects the viability of frozen biosamples after cores have been extracted, improves lab efficiencies and economics, and results in better scientific outcomes. CryoXtract has been funded by Allied Minds, Inc., a Boston-based private investment corporation. For more information, please visit to www.cryoxtract.com.

About Allied Minds, Inc.

Allied Minds is a U.S. investment firm that deploys private equity to form, fund, manage and build start-ups based on early-stage technologies developed at renowned U.S. universities and federal research institutions. Allied Minds serves as a diversified holding company that supports its businesses with capital, management and shared services, and is the premier investment firm to utilize this novel and fully integrated approach for technology commercialization. More information about the Boston-based company can be found at www.alliedminds.com.

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