SAN DIEGO, April 19, 2010 - Duke University's Edmund T. Pratt, Jr. School of Engineering recognized Genomatica Founder & CEO Christophe H. Schilling, Ph.D., as the recipient of the Distinguished Young Alumnus Award on Saturday, April 10. Schilling graduated from Duke in 1995, with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering. While at Duke he was a Howard Hughes Undergraduate Research Fellow. Schilling later received his doctorate in bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego, where he was a Powell Foundation and Whitaker Foundation Fellow. Established in 1990 by Duke University's Engineering Alumni Association, the Distinguished Young Alumnus Award is the highest award presented annually by the alumni association to a recent graduate. It is awarded with great care to young alumni who have distinguished themselves by the contributions they have made in their own particular fields or professions, in service to Duke University, or in the betterment of humanity. Schilling joins a select group of distinguished alumni of the Pratt School of Engineering who have been recognized for their achievements. "We are proud to present Christophe with this award to recognize the achievements he has made in building a promising company and career that apply broad engineering disciplines toward the advancement of science, technology, and business," said Professor Tom Katsouleas, Dean of the Pratt School of Engineering at Duke University. "His ambition to positively impact the environment is matched by his desire to succeed as an entrepreneur." Schilling has dedicated himself toward delivering on a vision of enabling transformation of the chemical industry through sustainable bio-manufacturing. His leadership in both business and technology is helping advance the use of biotechnology to address some of our world's most pressing energy, materials, and environmental challenges. Building on successful research conducted in the laboratory of Bernhard Palsson, Ph.D. at the University of California San Diego, the two co-founded Genomatica in 2000. Schilling has since been instrumental in forming the integrated technologies that generate Genomatica's ongoing value, including advancing and promoting the use of computational modeling and simulation technologies in the life sciences. Schilling is an inventor on a number of patent filings surrounding Genomatica's core technologies and is a co-author of numerous scientific articles on systems biology and modeling. Schilling has also received a number of scientific and business awards including the 2003 top 100 young innovators award from MIT's Technology Review magazine, and an R&D100 Award for SimPheny, the company's software modeling technology.

As CEO, Schilling has led Genomatica'S; s successful efforts to secure financing from leading venture capital firms in 2007 and 2010, which has enabled the current phase of the company's growth. These investment groups include Alloy Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Mohr Davidow Ventures and TPG Biotech who have collectively invested over $35M into the company since 2007, with $15 million coming in a recent series C funding round. The investment allows Genomatica to accelerate the development and scale-up of its flagship process for commercial-scale production of 1,4 butanediol (BDO). In the near future, Schilling will lead the expansion of Genomatica’s pipeline to include additional large-market chemical targets that the company will produce from renewable feedstocks. Schilling will continue to execute Genomatica's business model to partner with major chemical companies to catalyze transformation of the global chemical industry.

Genomatica is a sustainable chemicals company enabling transformation of the chemical industry. The company develops groundbreaking bio-manufacturing processes to sustainably produce a variety of industrial chemicals that impact all major industries and provide the materials that comprise the world we live in. The company enables the production of sustainable chemicals through a compelling proprietary platform that fundamentally transforms the way in which natural processes can be used to convert low cost, renewable feedstocks into higher-value chemicals. Founded in 2000 by research scientists and engineers from the University of California, San Diego, Genomatica develops a broad range of biologically produced industrial chemicals from a variety of renewable feedstocks at a fraction of the cost.

A privately held company, Genomatica is backed by top Silicon Valley venture capital firms Mohr Davidow Ventures, Alloy Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Genomatica is based in San Diego.

For more information:

Emily Chamberlin Genomatica 10520 Wateridge Circle San Diego, CA 92121

echamberlin@ar-edelman.com 650-762-2945 phone