EMERYVILLE, Calif., Jan. 23, 2008 - Amyris today announced the appointment of Joel Cherry, Ph.D., to the new position of senior vice president, research programs and operations. Cherry will be responsible for coordinating technical programs aimed at commercializing Amyris’ renewable products including diesel, chemicals and jet fuel.  Cherry joins other technical team members Jack Newman, Ph.D., co-founder, who continues as head of research and development; and Jeff Lievense, senior vice president, who oversees process development and manufacturing and Neil Renninger, CTO.

 “We’re very pleased to have Joel join our team at Amyris,” said John Melo, CEO of Amyris. “Joel has a proven track record of managing large scale, industrial biotech programs and his experience will be a tremendous asset as we move from research to commercialization of our renewable products.”

Prior to joining Amyris, Cherry was senior director of bioenergy biotechnology at Novozymes. During his tenure, Cherry was a member of the R&D management team specializing in protein engineering and directed evolution technologies.  He was also principal investigator and director of the BioEnergy Project, an effort funded by the U.S. Department of Energy to reduce the cost of enzymes used in converting biomass to sugar. This work was awarded an R&D 100 Award, Scientific American Top 50 Award, and a Frost and Sullivan Emerging Technology Award.

“I am excited to be joining Amyris, a company at the forefront of synthetic biology with much to contribute to the world’s quest for cost-effective renewable fuels,” said Cherry. “I look forward to utilizing my previous experience in R&D management to help guide fuels and chemicals from the lab to the market.” 

Cherry has authored over 30 research papers and book chapters and is an inventor on more than 25 issued patents in the fields of directed evolution and protein engineering.

About Amyris

Amyris is applying a proprietary synthetic biology platform to create No Compromise™ products – low cost renewable fuels and chemicals that are intended to be environmentally friendly, compatible with the existing infrastructure, and have performance attributes comparable to petroleum-based fuels. Amyris has also developed a technology to produce a second supply of an anti-malarial drug. Founded in 2003, Amyris has raised over $120 million in equity funding to date, including investments from Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, TPG Biotech, and DAG Ventures. Amyris has over 200 employees and facilities in Emeryville, California; Chicago, Illinois; and Campinas, Brazil. More information about Amyris is available at www.amyris.com. 

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Forward-Looking Statements:

The statements in this Investor Update are forward-looking statements based upon Amyris' current expectations, and involve risks and uncertainties. Amyris' actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of these risks and uncertainties, which include, without limitation: (1) inability to obtain additional equity and/or debt financing in the future, (2) failure to develop or commercialize products as planned; (3) inaccurate assessment of forecasted mill adoption, production scale-up timing and volume, and customer demand for Amyris products; (4) inability to achieve forecasted production economics and operating results; (5) risks associated with Amyris Fuels, Inc., including hedging exposure, access to working capital, terminal and other storage facility lease availability and customer demand for ethanol; (6) exposure to exchange rate fluctuations between the U.S. dollar and the Brazilian real; (7) inability to secure certification of our products or processes, and (8) general economic conditions, including downturns specific to the energy sector. Amyris expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release any updates or revisions to these forward-looking statements, except as the law may require.

For more information please contact: 

Annika Jensen

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