TEKCEL NAMES DR. ROBERT J. ROSENTHAL PRESIDENT & CEO
Automation Tools Company Positioned for Continued Growth

Hopkinton, MA ?October 16, 2003 ?TekCel, a leading provider of sample management and liquid handling tools for drug discovery, today announced the appointment of Robert J. Rosenthal, PhD, to the position of president and chief executive officer. Dr. Rosenthal will also join TekCel Board of Directors.

e are delighted to have attracted someone of Bob stature and experience to lead TekCel,?commented Dr. Herbert Hooper, an operating partner at TekCel lead investor, Ampersand Ventures, and a TekCel director, who has served as its interim CEO since August 2003. ob has an exemplary record of building successful laboratory products businesses, which will serve us well as we work to leverage our commercial foundation and seek new opportunities to better serve our customers.?/p>

Dr. Rosenthal has served as a senior executive at several highly successful life science tools companies, including PerkinElmer, Thermo Optek, and Nicolet Instruments. As president of Perkin Elmer Instruments division, which had combined revenues in excess of $850 million, Dr. Rosenthal managed the acquisition and integration of the Analytical Instruments group from PE Corporation. As president and CEO of Thermo Optek, Dr. Rosenthal built a market-leading instrument company with $550 million in revenues, which went public in 1996. Prior to Thermo Optek, Dr. Rosenthal served as president of Nicolet Instrument Corporation, a subsidiary of Thermo Instruments with more than $100 million in revenues.

his is an exciting time to be joining TekCel,?said Dr. Rosenthal. ver the last year, the company has delivered strong revenue growth from its core offerings, while simultaneously introducing new products and establishing a European sales and service organization. TekCel has the resources ?both human and financial ?to expand its technology base and continue to grow the company. I look forward to working with the company talented staff as well as its customers.?/p>

Peter Parker, a general partner at Ampersand and TekCel chairman, added ob brings the perfect set of skills, experiences, and capabilities to build TekCel into a premier supplier of laboratory products. We look forward to working closely with him to achieve this goal.?

About TekCel
Founded in 1998 and privately held, TekCel is a leading innovator of sample management and productivity solutions for life science research. The company provides a family of products for the modular storage and retrieval of compound libraries in various formats including standard microwell plates (96 and 384 well), deepwell plates, tubes, and vials. TekCel also provides a versatile assay workstation, the TekBench(TM), designed to automate processes ranging from sample preparation to complex biological assays.

Contact:
Anna Barcelos
MarCom Manager
(001) 508-544-7000, X233
[email protected]

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