SOUTH EASTON, Mass., Sept. 25, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pressure BioSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:PBIO) ("PBI" or the "Company") today announced the commercial release of ProteoSolve-CE NATIVE and ProteoSolve-CE STRINGENT, two novel, pressure cycling technology ("PCT")-dependent kits for the extraction of proteins from the nematode ("worm") Caenorhabditis elegans ("C. elegans"). The two kits contain proprietary reagents, consumable processing containers ("PULSE Tubes"), and instructions for use, and are intended to be used with the Company's patented PCT Sample Preparation System. Together, these new kits offer the researcher the ability to extract an abundance of either native or denatured proteins from nearly all parts of the C. elegans organism.

C. elegans is one of the most widely used model organisms in laboratory research today. It is an ideal study animal because it is small, not complex, easy to grow and maintain in the lab, and has a short and very predictable life cycle. Importantly, biological information learned from studying this worm has been shown to be directly applicable to more complex organisms, such as humans. The 2002, 2006, and 2008 Nobel Prizes were awarded to six different researchers for discoveries made involving this organism.

Both kits were developed in conjunction with Dr. John Collins, Associate Professor of Biochemistry at the University of New Hampshire (UNH), and an expert in the study of C. elegans. Dr. Collins said: "The tough outer coat ("cuticle") of C. elegans makes it extremely resilient to lysis. This causes great difficulty to researchers who need to study its genes and proteins. The new kits from PBI significantly improve the ability to break apart this very important model organism, which in turn enables the researcher to more easily extract important biomolecules for scientific studies. Because of these and other clear advantages, I believe that these kits should be well received by the very large and growing C. elegans research community."

Dr. Collins continued: "In addition, we are of course delighted that my graduate student, Ms. Gabrielle E. Giese, was selected by the Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) 2009 8th World Congress to receive a Young Investigators Travel Award for her work on C. elegans and PCT. She will be presenting her work at the HUPO Meeting next week in Toronto."

In addition to working with UNH, PBI also engaged the capabilities and resources of the Laboratory for Innovative Translational Technologies (HC-LITT) of Harvard Catalyst | The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Center to help in the development of these new products. Dr.