Press Release

HOLLISTON, Mass., May 19, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Harvard Bioscience, Inc. (Nasdaq:HBIO) has been ranked the number one biotech company in Massachusetts in the 2011 Boston Globe 100, the Boston Globe's annual survey of the best-performing public companies headquartered in Massachusetts. Harvard Bioscience has also been ranked number 10 out of all 100 companies in the survey.

David Green, President, commented: "We are thrilled that the Boston Globe has recognized us as the number one biotech company in Massachusetts. This recognition is a consequence of our strong track record of growth and profitability of our core life science research tools business, even during the Great Recession, our exciting growth opportunity in regenerative medicine and the exceptional commitment of our employees around the globe. Regenerative medicine, by growing organs outside the body for transplant, holds the promise of improving the lives of the significant number of patients with organ failure. Harvard Bioscience's regenerative medicine devices are used by surgeons and scientists to grow tissues and organs for transplant. Harvard Bioscience has been a Massachusetts company since its founding in 1901 at Harvard Medical School.

Mr. Green commented, "We started developing regenerative medicine devices when customers of our research products requested modifications to allow organs to be grown outside the body. The Company's first regenerative medicine product was used by Dr. Paolo Macchiarini to perform the world's first human transplant of a regenerated trachea. The work was published in The Lancet in 2008. The Company has also collaborated with Dr. Harald Ott and Massachusetts General Hospital to design and manufacture a novel bioreactor that was used to grow and transplant a functional lung in a lab model of lung failure, another world first. Dr. Ott's work was published in Nature Medicine in 2010."

Earlier this year, Harvard Bioscience's regenerative medicine products were featured on the PBS Nova ScienceNow television program "Replacing Body Parts" and on the National Geographic Channel's Explorer television program "How to Build a Beating Heart." Links to both these videos are available at www.harvardapparatus.com

The full survey will be published in the Boston Sunday Globe on May 22 2011 and will be accessible then via the following link http://www.boston.com/business/globe/globe100/. Mr. Green accepted the award on behalf of the Company at a ceremony at the headquarters of the Boston Globe earlier this evening.

The Harvard Bioscience, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=6426

CONTACT: David Green

         President

         dgreen@harvardbioscience.com

         Tel: 508 893 8999

         Fax: 508 429 8478

         

         Chane Graziano

         CEO

         cgraziano@harvardbioscience.com

         

         Tom McNaughton

         CFO

         tmcnaughton@harvardbioscience.com