SAN DIEGO, April 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Organovo Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB: ONVO) ("Organovo"), a biotechnology company focused on delivering breakthrough three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting technology, today announced that Michael Renard has been appointed executive vice president of Commercial Operations, and that Sharon Collins Presnell, Ph.D. has been promoted, adding chief technical officer to her title of executive vice president of Research and Development. The expansion of the management team will help Organovo in its mission to deliver breakthrough bioprinting technology for research and medical applications. Organovo is advancing bioprinting to work across a broad array of cell types to create 3D tissues that can recapitulate in vivo biology for human disease research, drug discovery and development, toxicology testing and, eventually, as therapies.

"Mr. Renard has a superior track record with Beckman Coulter and Sanofi developing innovative markets worldwide and delivering revenues from technical products," said Keith Murphy, chief executive officer of Organovo. "His extensive experience will support Organovo's next stage of product development and growth as we work to fulfill the promise of bioprinting to improve drug testing and create new therapies."

Mr. Renard has more than 29 years of recognized, revenue-generating experience in commercial operation, business development and sales and marketing for the life science industry. Since 1997, he has worked with Beckman Coulter holding various positions in program management, business operations and business development. He most recently was the vice president of marketing for North America commercial operations where he was responsible for achieving $2 billion in revenue across 11 major product lines. Before Beckman Coulter, he was vice president and general manager in start-up development stage incubator division of Sanofi, Inc. and director of corporate accounts at Kallestad Diagnostics. He has a M.B.A from Rockhurst University and a B.A. in biology and chemistry from St. Olaf College.

"Dr. Presnell has led the team at Organovo in quickly developing 3D bioprinting from innovation to application," said Mr. Murphy. "She also has been essential for innovations at the instrument and product level to help us advance this technology for our internal programs and for our partners."

Dr. Presnell has more than 15 years of experience in leading product-focused research and development. She has been the executive vice president of Research and Development at Organovo since 2011. Previously, she was senior vice president of regenerative medicine research at Tengion, Inc., where she was responsible for the discovery and early development of the Neo-Kidney Augment (TM) technology, to which Medtronic secured first rights to purchase in 2011. Dr. Presnell has also grown and led large multi-disciplinary teams at Becton Dickinson (BD), where she was integral in creating BD's discovery platform and BD FACS(TM) CAP tools, establishing the feasibility of the platform and tools in multiple therapeutic areas, and stewarding the technology through revenue-generating commercial partnerships. Dr. Presnell holds a Ph.D. in pathology from the Medical College of Virginia.

About Organovo Holdings, Inc.

Organovo (OTCQB: ONVO) is a three-dimensional biology company focused on delivering breakthrough bioprinting technology and creating tissue on demand for research and medical applications. The company's NovoGen three-dimensional bioprinting technology is a platform that works across all tissue and cell types. Organovo's NovoGen MMX Bioprinter(TM) was selected as one of the "Best Inventions of 2010" by TIME Magazine. Organovo is helping pharmaceutical partners develop human biological disease models in three dimensions that enable therapeutic drug discovery and development. Organovo's bioprinting technology can also be developed to create surgical tissues as direct therapy. Organovo leads the way in solving complex medical research problems and building the future of medicine. For more information, please visit http://www.organovo.com.

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Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on current expectations, but are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. The factors that could cause actual future results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties relating to the Company's ability to develop, market and sell products based on its technology; the expected benefits and efficacy of the Company's products and technology; the availability of substantial additional funding for the Company to continue its operations and to conduct research and development, clinical studies and future product commercialization; and, the Company's business, research, product development, regulatory approval, marketing and distribution plans and strategies. These and other factors are identified and described in more detail in our filings with the SEC, including, our current reports on Form 8-K. We do not undertake to update these forward-looking statements made by us.

SOURCE Organovo Holdings, Inc.