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CoreBiome Announces Leading Microbiome Researcher Rob Knight as Scientific Advisor

April 25, 2019 Off By BusinessWire

ST. PAUL, Minn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lt;a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/microbiome?src=hash" target="_blank"gt;#microbiomelt;/agt;–CoreBiome, a microbiome discovery services provider and wholly-owned
subsidiary of OraSure Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: OSUR), announced today
that Rob Knight, Professor and Director of the Center for Microbiome
Innovation at the University of California San Diego, has joined its
scientific advisory board.

As an investigator on the National Institutes of Health Human Microbiome
Project and a co-founder of the American Gut Project, Dr. Knight is one
of the world’s leading microbiome researchers. Dr. Knight’s research
tools have played a major role in the development of microbiome science.
His research has been published in over 500 peer-reviewed research
articles that collectively have been cited over 150,000 times.

“We are thrilled to have Rob Knight joining CoreBiome as a scientific
advisor. Rob has pioneered many of the foundational tools that
microbiome science is built upon,” says CoreBiome CEO Dan Knights. “Rob
has been a key investigator on many breakthrough clinical discoveries,
and has a great sense of where the current and future needs are for
microbiome scientists.”

Dr. Knight’s unique position as an expert in both computational and
molecular biology will allow him to advise CoreBiome on opportunities
for innovation at the bench and in the cloud. Ongoing tool development
at CoreBiome and its sister company DNA Genotek will help customers gain
insight into the function activity and byproducts of the microbiome.

Dr. Knight said of his appointment, “I believe it’s extremely important
to the whole microbiome field to give all investigators access to
high-resolution microbiome data and data mining at a massive scale. I am
very excited to be a part of ongoing efforts to make that happen.”

With the launch of BoosterShot™, CoreBiome has led the field in making
high-resolution metagenomic DNA sequencing accessible to
population-scale studies. In 2019, CoreBiome was acquired by OraSure
Technologies, which also owns DNA Genotek, a leading provider of
sampling and stabilization kits, bringing together an end-to-end
solution for robust microbiome discovery – from sample collection to
sequencing to custom data mining. CoreBiome also provides
ultra-high-throughput deep shotgun metagenomics and strain discovery.

“Having Rob as an advisor will support CoreBiome’s mission, to
accelerate discovery for the whole field by giving our customers access
to big data and good data at the same time,” said CoreBiome Data Science
Manager Tonya Ward. “It’s not just about generating a ton of data. The
data have to be high quality, and you also have to know what to do with
the data once you get it. We help customers do all of the above.”

About CoreBiome:
CoreBiome is a microbiome genomics company
focused on accelerating microbiome discovery for customers in the
pharmaceutical, agriculture, and research communities, to unleash the
translational potential of the microbiome. The company’s proprietary
BenchMark™, BoosterShot™, and Core Analysis™ platforms provide fast and
information-rich characterizations of microbial diversity and function,
paired with machine learning and expert analytics. CoreBiome is a
wholly-owned subsidiary of OraSure Technologies, Inc., which also owns
DNA Genotek, a leading provider of sampling and stabilization kits. For
more information about CoreBiome, visit http://www.corebiome.com.

About OraSure Technologies:
OraSure Technologies is a leader
in the development, manufacture and distribution of point-of-care
diagnostic and collection devices and other technologies designed to
detect or diagnose critical medical conditions. Its first-to-market,
innovative products include rapid tests for the detection of antibodies
to HIV and HCV on the OraQuick® platform, oral fluid sample collection,
stabilization and preparation products for molecular diagnostic
applications, and oral fluid laboratory tests for detecting various
drugs of abuse. OraSure’s portfolio of products is sold globally to
various clinical laboratories, hospitals, clinics, community-based
organizations and other public health organizations, research and
academic institutions, distributors, government agencies, physicians’
offices, commercial and industrial entities and consumers. The Company’s
products enable healthcare providers to deliver critical information to
patients, empowering them to make decisions to improve and protect their
health.

Important Information

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or
results. Known and unknown factors that could cause actual performance
or results to be materially different from those expressed or implied in
these statements include, but are not limited to: ability to
successfully manage and integrate the acquisitions in a manner that
complements or leverages our existing business, or otherwise expands or
enhances our portfolio of products and our end-to-end service offerings,
and the diversion of management’s attention from our ongoing business
and regular business responsibilities to effect such integration;
failure to realize the expected economic benefits of the acquisitions
(and increased returns for our stockholders), including that the
anticipated synergies, revenue enhancement strategies and other benefits
from the acquisitions may not be fully realized or may take longer to
realize than expected or that our actual integration costs may exceed
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the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) or other regulators;
changes in relationships, including disputes or disagreements, with
strategic partners or other parties and reliance on strategic partners
for the performance of critical activities under collaborative
arrangements; ability to meet increased demand for the Company’s
products; impact of significant customer concentration in the genomics
business; impact of increased reliance on U.S. government contracts;
failure of distributors or other customers to meet purchase forecasts,
historic purchase levels or minimum purchase requirements for our
products; impact of replacing distributors; inventory levels at
distributors and other customers; ability of the Company to achieve its
financial and strategic objectives and continue to increase its
revenues, including the ability to expand international sales; ability
to identify, complete, integrate and realize the full benefits of future
acquisitions; impact of competitors, competing products and technology
changes; impact of negative economic conditions; reduction or deferral
of public or other funding available to customers; competition from new
or better technology or lower cost products; ability to develop,
commercialize and market new products; market acceptance of oral fluid
or urine testing, collection or other products; market acceptance and
uptake of microbiome informatics, microbial genetics technology and
related analytics services; changes in market acceptance of products
based on product performance or other factors, including changes in
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failures and ability to obtain needed raw materials and components; the
impact of terrorist attacks and civil unrest; and general political,
business and economic conditions. These and other factors that could
affect our results are discussed more fully in the Company’s Securities
and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) filings, including our registration
statements, Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31,
2017, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and other filings with the SEC.
Although forward-looking statements help to provide information about
future prospects, readers should keep in mind that forward-looking
statements may not be reliable. The forward-looking statements are made
as of the date of this press release and OraSure Technologies undertakes
no duty to update these statements.