WaferGen Appoints Seasoned Industry Executives to Board of Directors and Scientific...

WaferGen Appoints Seasoned Industry Executives to Board of Directors and
Scientific Advisory Board

Also Announces Chief Operating Officer Promotion

FREMONT, Calif., May 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- WaferGen Biosystems, Inc.
(OTC Bulletin Board: WGBS), a leading developer of state-of-the-art genetic
analysis systems, today announced two key appointments, naming Robert J.
Hariri, M.D., Ph.D., to its board of directors and Lincoln J. McBride, Ph.D.,
as a senior scientific advisor and member of its scientific advisory board.
With extensive life science industry experience, Drs. Hariri and McBride
provide WaferGen with key leadership and expertise to support the company's
strategy and ongoing efforts to commercialize its SmartChip(TM) Real-Time PCR
System. In connection with these appointments, Amjad Huda, WaferGen's chief
financial officer and treasurer, and Victor Joseph, WaferGen's chief
technology officer and secretary, will step down from their positions on the
company's board of directors. Additionally, WaferGen announced that Mona
Chadha, former vice president of marketing and business development, has been
promoted to interim chief operating officer and executive vice president of
marketing and business development.

"We believe that we have significantly strengthened the leadership team at
WaferGen with the additions of Drs. Hariri and McBride. Through careers
marked by achievement, these gentlemen have distinguished themselves as
highly-regarded life science executives and we are pleased to count them among
the many talented individuals that comprise our management team, board of
directors and scientific advisory board," stated Alnoor Shivji, WaferGen's
chairman and chief executive officer. "We are equally pleased to announce the
much deserved promotion of Mona Chadha, whose contributions to WaferGen have
been critical to the development of the SmartChip system, positioning the
company for the product's successful commercialization. Finally, we would
like to thank both Amjad Huda and Victor Joseph for the important roles that
they have played on WaferGen's board. As co-founders of WaferGen, both Amjad
and Victor have made significant contributions to growing the company thus
far."

Dr. Hariri has served as the chief executive officer of Celgene Cellular
Therapeutics, a division of Celgene Corporation (Nasdaq: CELG), since 2005.
Prior to joining Celgene Cellular Therapeutics as president in 2002, Dr.
Hariri was founder, chairman and chief scientific officer at Anthrogenesis
Corporation/LIFEBANK, Inc., a privately held biomedical technology and service
corporation involved in the area of human stem cell therapeutics, which was
acquired by Celgene in 2002. He has also served as co-founder, vice chairman
and chief scientific officer of Neurodynamics, a privately held medical device
and technology corporation. Dr. Hariri has also held key academic positions
at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and the Cornell University
Graduate School of Medical Science, including serving as the director of the
Center for Trauma Research. Dr. Hariri also sits on the boards of
ImmuneRegen, Semorex and Rocket Racing, Inc., is a member of the board of
visitors of the Columbia University Fu Foundation School of Engineering and
Applied Sciences and the Science and Technology Council of the Columbia
University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and is a member of the
scientific advisory board for the Archon X PRIZE for Genomics, which is
awarded by the X Prize Foundation.

As a scientist and life science executive with nearly 30 years of experience
including work in the area of real-time PCR, Dr. McBride has proven expertise
in commercializing several breakthrough enabling technologies for life science
research. His work has included tenures with leading enabling technology
companies such as Applied BioSystems, Perkin Elmer and Fluidigm. While at
Fluidigm, during which time he served as vice president of research and
development and chief technology officer, Dr. McBride is credited with leading
the commercialization of the TOPAZ(R) System, the company's first product line
and the world's first chip-based product for structural biology. Previously,
Dr. McBride oversaw the marketing and scientific collaboration between Perkin
Elmer and Applied Biosystems prior to the merger of the two companies. During
this period, he founded and led the companies' effort to commercialize the
world's first real-time PCR system. As an author, Dr. McBride is credited
with more than 25 journal publications, six issued U.S. patents and numerous
U.S. patent applications.

Prior to her promotion, Mona Chadha served as WaferGen's vice president of
marketing and business development. Since joining the company in 2006, Ms.
Chadha has played an important role in developing and executing the company's
broad business strategy, including product definition, market development,
commercialization plans for the SmartChip Real Time PCR System and fundraising
activities. In overseeing the development of the SmartChip platform, Ms.
Chadha has helped sign research collaborations with scientists at a number of
the country's most prestigious research institutions, including University of
Pittsburgh School of Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
and Duke University Medical Center.

About WaferGen

WaferGen Biosystems, Inc. is a leader in the development, manufacture and sale
of state-of-the-art systems for genetic analysis for the life science and
pharmaceutical industries. The company is actively developing its
SmartChip(TM) product for the gene expression and genotyping markets.
SmartChip is being developed as the first whole genome, high throughput gene
expression real-time PCR platform. This innovative system, combined with
next-generation chemistry and optimized assays being developed by WaferGen,
promises to deliver significant speed and cost advantages to researchers in
the gene expression and genotyping markets. Based on collaborations
established with leading research institutions, WaferGen believes that the
SmartChip Real-Time PCR System is positioned as the platform of choice for
biomarker discovery and validation. WaferGen currently markets its
SmartSlide(TM) family of products to companies and organizations involved in
stem cell and cell biology research. SmartSlide represents the first fluidics
integrated micro-incubators enabling cell biology and stem cell research.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements". Such
statements include statements relating to the recent strengthening of the
leadership team of the company and other statements relating to future events
or to the company's future financial performance and are not historical facts,
including statements which may be preceded by the words "intends," "may,"
"will," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "predicts,"
"estimates," "aims," "believes," "hopes," "potential" or similar words.

Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, are based
on certain assumptions and are subject to various known and unknown risks and
uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the company. Actual
results may differ materially from the expectations contained in the
forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such differences include
the risks that: (i) the company may be unsuccessful in commercially developing
its products or in achieving market acceptance of new and relatively unproven
technologies; (ii) the company will need to raise additional capital to meet
its business requirements in the future and the company may not be able to do
so on reasonable terms or at all; (iii) the company's proprietary intellectual
property rights may not adequately protect its products and technologies; and
(iv) the company expects intense competition in its target markets, including
from companies that have much greater resources than the company, and there
can be no assurance that the company will be able to compete effectively.
More detailed information about the company and the risk factors that may
affect the realization of forward-looking statements is set forth in the
company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the
company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008 and
the company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31,
2009. Investors and security holders are urged to read this document free of
charge on the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov. The company does not undertake to
publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.

Contact:
Vida Communication (Media) The Trout Group (Investors)
On Behalf of WaferGen On Behalf of WaferGen
Tim Brons Peter Rahmer
415-675-7400 646-378-2973
tbrons@vidacommunication.com San Francisco, CA

or

Christine Yang
646-378-2929
New York, NY

SOURCE WaferGen Biosystems, Inc.

media, Tim Brons of Vida Communication, +1-415-675-7400,
tbrons@vidacommunication.com, or investors, San Francisco, CA, Peter Rahmer,
+1-646-378-2973, or New York, NY, Christine Yang, +1-646-378-2929, both of The
Trout Group, all for WaferGen