NEWS RELEASE

May 18, 2007

Synthecon Issued Patent For A Dual Cell Culture Chamber Rotary Bioreactor System Needed for Development Of Stem Cell Therapeutic Applications

Synthecon’s Rotary Cell Culture System (“RCCS™”) With Dual Cell Culture Chamber Enables Exchange Of Growth Factors From Feeder Cells Without Contaminating Cultured Stem Cells

HOUSTON, TX; May 18, 2007: Synthecon Inc. announced today that it was recently issued a patent for a new perfused Rotary Cell Culture System (RCCS™). The new patent covers a dual cell culture chamber. The two chambers are connected by a specialized membrane, which allows two different cell types to exchange soluble factors with each other without mixing the cells. In addition to the dual cell culture chamber patent, Synthecon owns a broad portfolio of patents covering rotary culture system technology.

Synthecon expects that this technology will become particularly useful in stem cell cultures that require growth factors from other cells, specifically “feeder cells”, in order to proliferate. By separating feeder cells from the stem cells, it will become possible to expand pure stem cell cultures uncontaminated by feeder cells. This could become especially important if stem cell therapies are to fulfill their promise of regenerating tissues and organs.

Stem cells are primitive cells found in all multi-cellular organisms that retain the ability to renew themselves through cell divisions and can differentiate into a wide range of specialized cell types. As stem cells become more readily grown and differentiated through cell culture into specialized cells with characteristics consistent with cells of various tissues such as muscle and nerve, their use in medical therapies is expected to increase significantly.

Bill Anderson, President and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Stem-cell-derived differentiated cells offer great promise for practical tissue engineering and therapeutic applications. However, practical applications will likely require a large number of cultured stem cells. Previous research has demonstrated that rotary cell culture technology has the capability to expand stem cells significantly. The dual cell culture chamber is a significant addition to that capability.”

About Synthecon

Synthecon designs and manufactures rotating bioreactors used in cell culture and tissue engineering applications. The Company has been previously recognized as a “Fast Tech Fifty” company by the Houston Business Journal and was a recipient of the “R&D 100” award for its technology. Originally based on a license from NASA for the rotating wall bioreactor, Synthecon has gone on to design and patent numerous innovations to the basic technology. Marketed under the trademark Rotary Cell Culture SystemÔ, Synthecon bioreactors are recognized in several hundred research articles by leading scientists to be the superior technology for growing three-dimensional human tissues. The Company is developing commercial bioreactor systems for recombinant protein therapeutics and for use in an islet transplantation surgical procedure for treatment of type I diabetes that is entering clinical trials. Synthecon has been a client company of the Houston Technology Center.

Contact:
Bill Anderson
Tel 713.741.2582