Sigma-Aldrich unveils new Sigma Life Science brand and website platform

Sigma-Aldrich® ( SIAL) today unveiled its new Sigma^® Life Science brand and website platform, designed to elevate the Company's current focus on biology and provide a single destination where researchers can access deep biological knowledge and market-leading products and technologies. The introduction of Sigma Life Science's 'Where Bio Begins' brand (www.wherebiobegins.com) brings attention to its biology focus by providing researchers with robust, unique, industry-leading technologies and biologically- focused products to help them explore, study and understand life.

The Sigma Life Science mission is expected to enable researchers to unravel the complex biomolecular interactions within cells, tissues, organs and organisms. The new brand and website are expected to generate awareness of Sigma Life Science's strengths in providing products and technologies that are intended to facilitate scientists' understanding of how diseases develop and how molecules function.

"Our new brand will help us tell our biology story - that Sigma holds what we believe is one of the largest portfolios of biologically rich products and technologies in the industry," said Dr. David Smoller, president of Sigma-Aldrich's Research Biotech business unit. "We have over $750 million worth of products in our portfolio and are fully committed to helping biologists. For over 50 years, life scientists around the world have depended upon our traditional foundation of bioessentials, including biochemicals, amino acids, antibodies, buffers, carbohydrates, enzymes, forensic tools, hematology, histology, nucleotides and cell culture media because of our quality, service and selection. Over the last few years we have built on this strong foundation to develop innovative products and technologies and become a true leader in the life science market."

Sigma Life Science is a leading biomolecule provider with:

• The world's largest custom oligonucleotide service supplying customers around the globe with high quality DNA and RNA and, in many regions, same-day custom DNA synthesis;
• A growing portfolio of more than 25,000 monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies including Prestige Antibodies^® Powered by Atlas Antibodies, the industry's most highly-validated antibodies; and
• The largest number of bioactive small molecules, peptides and proteins for cell biology and neuroscience research including GPCR and ion channel ligands, novel kinase inhibitors and cell cycle regulators, the gold-standard LOPAC™ library of pharmacologically active compounds and key signal transduction enzymes featuring Precisio™ kinases.

Sigma Life Science is also emerging as a leader in innovation with:

• Cutting-edge gene silencing products, MISSION^® siRNAs and the largest set of validated lentivirus based  MISSION® shRNA clones;
• The award-winning CompoZr™ Zinc Finger Nucleases (ZFN) gene editing technology - the first technology to allow researchers to insert, delete or edit any region of the genome of a living cell or organism;
• SAGE^™ Labs - the first knockout rat program designed to develop novel rodent models of human disease powered by the CompoZr™ ZFN technology; and
• Comprehensive and innovative sets of reagents for regenerative medicine including the Stemgent^™ reprogramming kit to develop induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells leveraging the Sigma Life Science lentivirus delivery expertise; HyStem^™, a fully customizable synthetic extracellular matrix (ECM) to optimize stem cell proliferation and differentiation and a complete portfolio of zinc finger nuclease reagents, antibodies, shRNA/siRNAs for stem cell research.

All of these technologies are accessible through the 'Your Favorite Gene powered by Ingenuity' (http://sigma.com/yfg) search engine - the most dynamic, web-based biological search tool that delivers comprehensive gene-based content to model and evaluate experiments in the context of previously published scientific literature.

"Over the past couple of years we have been working very hard in an attempt to gather the most talented people who are passionate about helping life scientists around the world understand the secrets of life and address the main challenges in biology." said Dr. Helge Bastian, Vice President of Sigma-Aldrich's Research Biotech business unit. "These efforts have transformed our life science business into what we believe is an innovation powerhouse that surprises the market with genuine product innovations. Our award-winning, dynamic web-based biological search tool, 'Your Favorite Gene', our Prestige antibody collection, our ground-breaking CompoZr ZFN technology and the novel, ZFN-enabled knockout rat models generated by our SAGE^™ Labs business are proof of the things that researchers can expect from Sigma's Life Science business now and in the future: technologies and products that help advance life science and provide deeper insight into biology leading to better medicines and cures. We are committed more than ever to support life science researchers on their way to new discoveries for a healthier and better life. For researchers, Sigma Life Science is the destination where the new biology begins."

To support the 'Where Bio Begins' launch, eight information portals have been specifically tailored to serve the biology community. Themed around the Company's core biological capabilities in targeted genome editing (bioediting), transgenics (SAGE Labs), functional genomics (biosilencing), stem cell research and epigenetics (bioreprogramming), molecular biology (biomapping), biomolecules, oligonucleotides/custom products (bionucleics), customer education and training programs (biouniversity) and bioinformatic resource (Your Favorite Gene) these sites can be accessed at www.wherebiobegins.com.