Morgantown, WV -- (SBWIRE) -- 07/21/2014 -- Protea Biosciences Group, Inc. and InSphero AG jointly announced that they have entered into a collaboration that will combine each company's respective 3D technology. InSphero AG is the leading supplier of 3D organotypic microtissues for in vitro toxicology and efficacy studies, with models derived from liver, pancreas, tumor, and brain tissue that yield a high level of predictability during drug development compared to traditional 2-dimensional cell culture and other in vitro model systems.

The collaboration will use Protea's proprietary LAESI® direct molecular imaging platform to analyze InSphero's proprietary 3D InSight™ microtissues, creating 3D molecular profiles for tissue characterization, drug metabolism and distribution, pharmacokinetic and toxicity applications. From this collaboration, Protea and InSphero expect to create new products and services that may be marketed to pharmaceutical and biotechnology researchers worldwide.

"The understanding of disease and the development of new pharmaceuticals continues to be an enormous challenge, one that requires new technologies," stated Protea's CEO Stephen Turner. He added, "We believe that InSphero's 3D microtissues deliver a new level of insight and predictability to the drug development process. We are honored to be working with InSphero's team of scientists and to have the opportunity to apply our LAESI direct molecular imaging technology to the analysis of their 3D microtissues."

InSphero CEO and co-founder Dr. Jan Lichtenberg believes the partnering of the two 3D technologies is a natural fit. "The LAESI technology increases the power of mass spectrometry, and is uniquely suited to meet the needs of researchers using our 3D microtissues. The ability to reconstruct the molecular profile of a tissue in three dimensions, including endogenous proteins, drugs, and compound metabolites, will facilitate a deeper characterization of 3D cell models, and open doors to novel applications that can further enhance their utility in drug discovery and development."

About Protea Biosciences Group, Inc.
Protea Biosciences Group, Inc. is a commercial stage molecular information company, focused on meeting the needs of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agriculture, chemical and other industries with innovative bioanalytical technologies. Protea's proprietary technology, LAESI® (Laser Ablation Electrospray Ionization), is used with mass spectrometry to identify large numbers of distinct molecules from a single analysis of tissues, cells, fluids, agricultural specimens and other sample types. Using proprietary software (ProteaPlot™), the location of each distinct molecule in a respective sample can be displayed, enabling direct molecular imaging. The LAESI DP-1000, an integrated system that combines LAESI and ProteaPlot, is marketed to a wide array of researchers for numerous applications. Protea maintains its own laboratory facility where it performs services using LAESI and complementary technologies for a wide array of customers to support preclinical pharmaceutical R&D, biomarker discovery and other applications. Protea also collaborates with researchers to apply its technologies and expertise to generate new discoveries and intellectual property. For more information, log on to http://www.proteabio.com.

About InSphero AG
InSphero is a leading supplier of organotypic, biological in vitro 3D microtissues for highly predictive drug testing. The company, headquartered near Zurich, Switzerland, with subsidiaries in the USA and in Germany, currently counts all of the top ten global pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies as customers. InSphero 3D Insight™ Microtissues enable more biologically relevant in vitro applications in efficacy and toxicology. Based on InSphero's patented and award-winning production technology, the company offers a wide range of assay-ready 3D microtissues including hepatic, cardiac, pancreatic, neuronal and dermal models. For outsourced compound testing, InSphero offers flexible 3D InSight™ Testing Services run by a team of experienced 3D cell-culture scientists. InSphero is certified to the ISO 9001:2008 standard for its Quality Management System.

Forward-Looking Statements
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