Austin, Texas – 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 fullyintegrated 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.