Biomatrica Launches New Partnership Program - Biomatrica Connect(TM)

SAN DIEGO, May 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Biomatrica, Inc. today announced the launch of Biomatrica Connect™, a solution-centric partnership program established with industry and academia to advance technologies for ambient room temperature storage and management of nucleic acids.  The Biomatrica Connect™ (www.biomatrica.com/aboutus_partners.php)  is a scientific/industry partnership for the development, testing, validation and use of novel technologies from Biomatrica for long term storage, archival, shipping and management of biological samples (DNA, RNA, tissues, blood, etc).

"Biomatrica is excited to announce the creation of this industry partnership program that reflects the growth of our technology and the collaborative approach to making this a highly adopted platform. We are experiencing tremendous growth across our entire product portfolio and are partnering with organizations and researchers to leverage additional opportunities and technologies that complement and extend the innovations that Biomatrica creates. The solutions created with the partnerships will offer a highly flexible platform for sustainable biomedical research that is eco-friendly, cost effective, energy efficient and workflow optimized for better management of biological samples," said Judy Muller-Cohn, Chief Executive Officer of Biomatrica.

Joining the Biomatrica Connect™ program are academic researchers in forensic science, biomedical research as well as companies offering state-of-the-art automated biospecimen storage and services, such as BioStorage Technologies, Matrical Biosciences, and Nexus Biosystems. "I am delighted to be one of the academic research partners in the Biomatrica Connect Program.   Our lab has conducted research studies showing Biomatrica's STRBoost® provides improvement in the overall quality of the DNA profiles that can be obtained from biological samples that have been subjected to various environmental stresses. This technology will significantly benefit the forensic science community by improving detection of key biomarkers in forensic evidence analysis," said Dr Peter Bilous, Associate Professor of Forensic Science at Eastern Washington University.

BioStorage Technologies  Inc., is a worldwide provider of temperature controlled sample storage and management, offering its clients the option to utilize Biomatrica's dry storage technology and provide conversion and sample isolation services to transition samples from frozen to room temperature storage. In March 2010, Biomatrica and BioStorage Technologies formed a strategic alliance to promote and co-market solutions for biospecimen storage and services (see: http://www.biomatrica.com/media/pr/BioStorage_Biomatrica_PressRelease.pdf).

In joining the program, Dr Kevin Oldenburg, President, Matrical Biosciences, reiterated his belief "in a partnership that really offers a sustainable and practical solution for biobanks that need a cost-effective, energy-efficient and highly sustainable biospecimen storage and management system. Matrical is already seeing success of our joint partnership and are excited with the many opportunities to come in the future."

"Biomatrica and NEXUS Biosystems have always found close synergy in combining technologies that provide excellent solutions to meet the stability and storage needs of increasingly large collections of biological samples," according to John Lillig, President and CEO of NEXUS Biosystems. "NEXUS Biosystems' family of Universal Stores provides a broad suite of user configurable ambient, -20C and -80C solutions for automated biological and chemical sample storage and retrieval, and when partnered with Biomatrica's novel room temperature storage stabilization reagents, offers a robust, high integrity sample management platform for biomedical and biorepository researchers."

Membership in the Biomatrica Connect™ partnership program is available to a wide range of industry and academic thought leaders. For information on partnership with Biomatrica, please contact Omo Clement ([email protected]) or Marylinn Munson ([email protected]).

About Biomatrica, Inc.

Biomatrica (www.biomatrica.com) is a San Diego-based biostability company that provides innovative technologies for stabilizing, processing, storing, shipping and assaying biological samples at room temperature. The core technology is designed for use in preserving complex biological samples and assays and is based on the principles of anhydrobiosis ("life without water"), a natural mechanism that allows multicellular organisms to survive extreme environments. Biomatrica's current products stabilize DNA and RNA with no sample degradation, thus labs can reduce their reliance on freezers and drastically reduce shipping costs. Biomatrica products are used in laboratories performing life science research, from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to academic research, biobanks and biorepositories as well as forensics laboratories. Custom services to stabilize additional sample types such as proteins are also available. Biomatrica also offers SampleWare® software, an easy-to-use, customizable laboratory management database that provides scientists with the means to store and organize their sample data, and directly supports samples stabilized by Biomatrica technology. For more information about the SampleMatrix technology and the Biomatrica products utilizing this technology platform (DNAstable® and DNAgard™ for DNA, RNAstable® for RNA and CloneStable® for bacterial DNA), visit: http://www.biomatrica.com/ or call 1-866-379-6879.

About BioStorage Technologies

BioStorage Technologies, Inc. is the leader in sample storage, inventory management and cold-chain logistics for the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. The company offers secure, temperature-controlled storage; real-time tracking of stored biological samples; and next-day return of biomaterials. BioStorage Technologies, Inc. is privately-held and headquartered in Indianapolis with an additional full-service site near Frankfurt, Germany. For more information, visit www.biostorage.com or call +1 (866) 697-2675 or +49-6155-898-1011.

About Matrical Biosciences, Inc.

Matrical is a privately-owned company, incorporated in early 2000 to focus on the development of products for the life science research market with an emphasis in drug discovery, academia, genomics, and proteomics. Matrical develops, manufactures, and distributes products that accelerate drug discovery. We are dedicated to meeting the challenges of assay miniaturization and sample management. Currently, Matrical has expertise in injection molded plastic products with special emphasis on microwell plates. Matrical holds several patents on microwell plate designs and materials. In addition to microwell plates, we offer state-of-the-art solutions for automated compound management and storage, high throughput sonication, plate washing and other benchtop solutions. For more information about Matrical, please visit www.matrical.com

About NEXUS Biosystems, Inc.

NEXUS Biosystems is a leading innovator and worldwide provider of enabling technologies and automated sample management systems for pharmaceutical, biotech, biorepository, agrichemical and research institutions worldwide. NEXUS products include the Universal Store family of automated biological and chemical sample management systems, the Aurora line of high performance microplates, the XPeel microplate de-sealer, and the Crystal Farm line of protein crystallization systems. NEXUS was founded in 2005, is headquartered in Poway, CA, has a European subsidiary NEXUS Biosystems GmbH™ in Munich, Germany, and has sales and distribution offices throughout the US, Europe and Asia. For further information about NEXUS Biosystems, please visit www.nexusbio.com.

SOURCE Biomatrica, Inc.