Verenium Appoints Gregory Powers Executive Vice President of Research and Development

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Verenium Corporation (Nasdaq: VRNM), a pioneer in the development of next-generation cellulosic ethanol and high-performance specialty enzymes, today announced the appointment of Gregory Powers, Ph.D., to the position of Executive Vice President, Research and Development. Powers will report directly to Carlos A. Riva, Verenium's President and Chief Executive Officer.

"Greg brings over 30 years of valuable research and development, manufacturing and business development experience from leading global technology companies," said Carlos A. Riva, President and Chief Executive Officer of Verenium. "He is a critical addition to our executive team, and we look forward to partnering with him to strengthen our R&D platform, enabling us to maintain a leadership position in the development of cellulosic ethanol and high-performance specialty enzymes."

Prior to joining Verenium, Powers was Vice President of Global Engineering at United Technologies Corporation's Carrier division. He was responsible for all engineering activity and strategy development supporting core innovation for the company.

Previously, Powers held various positions with General Electric Company including specialty materials, lighting and plastics. He was Global Technology Director for GE Betz where he led product and process development for a $1B global water and process treatment chemicals and services business. Prior to that, he worked as Global General Manager of Technology creating high tech product offerings and manufacturing processes and as Global Technology Manager for GE Plastics, Structured Products.

Powers currently sits on the Board of Directors for The Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems at Syracuse University. He received a B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, and completed graduate studies in Chemical Engineering at Stanford University.

About Verenium

Verenium Corporation is a leader in the development and commercialization of cellulosic ethanol, an environmentally-friendly and renewable transportation fuel, as well as high-performance specialty enzymes for applications within the biofuels, industrial, and health and nutrition markets. The Company possesses integrated, end-to-end capabilities in pre-treatment, novel enzyme development, fermentation, engineering, and project development and is moving rapidly to commercialize its proprietary technology for the production of ethanol from a wide array of feedstocks, including sugarcane bagasse, dedicated energy crops, agricultural waste, and wood products. In addition to the vast potential for biofuels, a multitude of large-scale industrial opportunities exist for the Company for products derived from the production of low-cost, biomass-derived sugars.

Verenium's Specialty Enzyme business harnesses the power of enzymes to create a broad range of specialty products to meet high-value commercial needs. Verenium's world class R&D organization is renowned for its capabilities in the rapid screening, identification, and expression of enzymes-proteins that act as the catalysts of biochemical reactions. For more information on Verenium, visit http://www.verenium.com.

Forward Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not strictly historical are "forward-looking" and involve a high degree of risk and uncertainty. These include statements related to the Company's operations, capabilities, commercialization activities, target markets and cellulosic ethanol facilities, all of which are prospective. Such statements are only predictions, and actual events or results may differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to the differences include, but are not limited to, risks associated with Verenium's new and uncertain technologies, risks associated with the costs, labor requirements and labor availability associated with Verenium's demonstration plant, risks associated with Verenium's ability to obtain additional capital to support its planned operations, risks associated with Verenium's dependence on patents and proprietary rights, risks associated with Verenium's protection and enforcement of its patents and proprietary rights, technological, regulatory, competitive and other risks related to development, production, and commercialization of cellulosic ethanol and other biofuels and the commercial prospects of those industries, Verenium's dependence on existing collaboration, manufacturing, and/or license agreements, and its ability to achieve milestones under existing and future collaboration agreements, the ability of Verenium and its partners to commercialize products (including by obtaining any required regulatory approvals) using Verenium's technologies and timing for launching any commercialized products, the ability of Verenium and its collaborators to market and sell any products that it or they commercialize, the development or availability of competitive products or technologies, the future ability of Verenium to enter into and/or maintain collaboration and joint venture agreements and licenses, changes in the U.S. or global energy markets and laws and regulations applicable to them, and risks and other uncertainties more fully described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, the Company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended June 30, 2008. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. The Company expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

     Contacts:

     Kelly Lindenboom                 Sarah Carmody
     Vice President, Corporate        Sr. Corporate Communications
      Communications                   Associate
     617-674-5335                     617-674-5357
     kelly.lindenboom@verenium.com    sarah.carmody@verenium.com

SOURCE Verenium Corporation