Morgantown, Protea Biosciences Group, Inc.

(“Protea”), a leading bioanalytics company, announced today it had begun a research

collaboration with the laboratory of Gary J. Van Berkel, Ph.D., Distinguished Research

Staff and Group Leader, Organic and Biological Mass Spectrometry Group, in the

Chemical Sciences Division, at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, located in Oak Ridge

Tennessee.

Under terms of the research collaboration, a LAESI DP-1000 ionization system, based

on Protea’s proprietary technology, will be used by the Van Berkel laboratory to explore

the molecular structures of material surfaces. The two parties will jointly publish research

results and Protea will have certain rights to the discoveries resulting from the

collaboration.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is the largest science and energy national

laboratory in the U.S. Department of Energy system, employing 1600 scientists and

engineers. ORNL’s scientific programs focus on materials, neutron science, energy,

high-performance computing, systems biology, and national security.

“We are honored to commence this research collaboration with the Van Berkel laboratory

at Oak Ridge”, stated Steve Turner, Protea’s Chairman & CEO. “Their team has been

responsible for many innovations in the field of surface profiling. We believe the

combination of their laboratory’s expertise with the revolutionary capabilities of the LAESI

technology will generate exciting results for life science research.”

Dr. Van Berkel commented, “There has been a great need for new technology that

ionizes samples with no sample preparation, so that material surfaces can be analyzed

rapidly and without bias under ambient conditions. This product has the potential to

make a real contribution to the future of surface profiling and imaging mass

spectrometry”

In 2011, Protea completed the development of the first instruments to embody LAESI

technology. By eliminating pretreatment steps, samples can be analyzed without the

possible contamination, bias, or sample loss that occurs with current techniques which

require the introduction of chemicals, chromatographic separations, or the destruction of Protea’Biosciences Group,’Inc.

the sample itself, in order to enable the identification and characterization of material

surfaces by mass spectrometry.

LAESI technology was invented in the laboratory of Akos Vertes, PhD., Professor of

Chemistry, Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Founder and Co-director

W.M. Keck Institute for Proteomics Technology and Applications Department of

Chemistry, George Washington University, and exclusively licensed to Protea.

Protea is a leader in the field of bioanalytics – the identification and characterization of

proteins, metabolites, and other biomolecules, which are the products of all living cells

and life forms – technology that is foundational for all pharmaceutical and life science

research.