QuantaLife, Inc. Unanimously Selected as the 'Most Promising Company' at the Personalized Medicine World Conference 2010

PLEASANTON, Calif., Feb. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- QuantaLife, Inc., a company developing breakthrough microfluidic technology and proprietary chemistry for nucleic acid testing applications that are relevant across many sectors, today announced that it was unanimously selected for the "Most Promising Company" award at the Personalized Medicine World Conference (PMWC) 2010, held January 19-20, 2010. The PMWC 2010 was created to examine the emerging field of personalized medicine, which can create a higher probability of desired outcomes thanks to better-targeted therapies, and helps focus on prevention and prediction of disease rather than simply reacting to it. QuantaLife was selected as the "Most Promising Company" on the basis of market need and enthusiasm for innovative products, barriers to competition, management team strength, "go-to market" strategy, and clear financial projections.

QuantaLife's recognition as the Most Promising Company at this year's PMWC further validates the clinical utility potential of the Company's revolutionary droplet digital PCR™ (ddPCR™) technology as a platform for well-resolved quantitation of important biomolecules. Seventeen companies presented at the PMWC 2010, many of whom have already achieved market clearance for their personalized medicine products. At the conference, QuantaLife executives demonstrated the growing need for a platform that validates digital biology discoveries that are enabled by next generation sequencing and microarray platforms. QuantaLife's strategy, illustrating ddPCR translation of digital biology discoveries into reliable, cost-effective diagnostic and prognostic products, was the unanimous choice for the award as judged by successful venture capital investors from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Telegraph Hill Partners, Mohr-Davidow Ventures, and the Silicom Ventures angel investing network.

"We are honored to be recognized as the Most Promising Company for personalized medicine during this year's Personalized Medicine World Conference, and remain excited about expansive validation of the clinical utility of our ddPCR platform," said Bill Colston, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of QuantaLife, Inc. and inventor of the company's core technology. "The revolutionary potential of QuantaLife's technology will ultimately empower researchers and clinicians to answer long-standing, fundamental, and complex systems biology questions, ushering in a new era of digital molecular diagnostic capabilities. This award is a testament to the hard work of our World-class scientific team."

"It's great to see this kind of external validation of the QuantaLife team and technology," added Michael R. Steed, Founder and Managing Partner of Paladin Capital Group, "While we have high expectations of the shareholder value being created at the Company, this is one of those investments where the real payoff is in the broad impact we foresee in both the quality and security of people's lives."

QuantaLife's innovative solutions confer a spectrum of commercial opportunities across many applications. The Company's primary focus is on commercializing instruments for life science researchers and biopharmaceutical firms validating discoveries from next generation sequencing. QuantaLife's technology will ultimately provide digital diagnostic solutions to unmet clinical needs in oncology, infectious disease management, and reproductive medicine. For example, ddPCR would be uniquely capable of cost-effective detection of fetal aneuploidy, such as Down syndrome, from maternal blood, thus eliminating the need for invasive and dangerous diagnostic procedures. Furthermore, ddPCR will likely be the platform of choice for non-invasive, early detection of circulating cancer biomarkers produced by deadly tumors like lung cancer and colorectal cancer.

About QuantaLife, Inc.

QuantaLife, Inc., founded in 2008 by leading scientists from the nation's largest civilian bio-defense program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, is a privately-held biotechnology company developing a proprietary and powerful next-generation nucleic acid testing platform, droplet digital PCR (ddPCR). ddPCR combines precision microfluidic technology and proprietary chemistries to enable fine, absolute and relative quantitation of DNA and RNA from complex and precious sample matrices. QuantaLife has assembled a world-class team with a successful track record of intellectual property development, extensive peer-reviewed publications, strategic transaction execution, and strong commercial launches. QuantaLife's Series A financing round was led by Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm, Paladin Capital Group. The Company is located in Pleasanton, California. For more information, please visit the QuantaLife's website at www.quantalife.com.

About Paladin Capital Group

Paladin Capital Group is an established, multi-stage private equity firm that invests in growing companies through acquisitions and expansion capital. Headquartered in Washington D.C., with offices in New York City and Atlanta, GA, Paladin has more than $950 million of committed capital across several distinct funds. Paladin established its first fund in 2001, launched the $235M Homeland Security Fund in 2004, and its follow-on fund, Paladin III in 2007. The firm's leadership is comprised of professionals with a proven track record of financial expertise, national security experience and specialized technical competence. Collectively, Paladin's professionals have completed over 100 direct and co-investments in a wide range of industries. Paladin is focused on being an active investor and bringing value-added advice, access and relationships to its portfolio companies.

SOURCE QuantaLife, Inc.