Hamilton Thorne Appoints Anthony McCook as Vice President of Sales to Drive Company's Growth

BEVERLY, MA and TORONTO--(Marketwire - Jan 10, 2012) - Hamilton Thorne Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: HTL), a leading provider of advanced laser systems for the regenerative medicine, fertility and stem cell research markets, today announced the appointment of Anthony McCook as the Company's new Vice President of Sales. Mr. McCook brings over 25 years of sales leadership and a proven track record of success in capital equipment sales in healthcare, imaging and cell biology markets. Mr. McCook will be a key driver of Hamilton Thorne's growth strategy as the Company continues to leverage its dominant position in the laser fertility market, into lucrative markets such as cell biology and stem cell research.

"We are extremely pleased to welcome Tony to Hamilton Thorne. He is a great fit for our Company with his strong background in imaging and cell biology, and impressive track record in significantly growing product sales," said David Wolf, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hamilton Thorne Ltd. "With our newly introduced products finding traction in the global marketplace and new strategic product launches planned for this year, this is a critical time for Hamilton Thorne to have a strong sales leader managing and supporting our internal sales team and global distribution network."

Mr. McCook has held a variety of senior level sales positions over his career, successfully managing both direct and indirect sales teams. He was most recently at Bioscan, Inc., as the Vice President of North American Sales where he was instrumental in driving a 55% sales increase in 2010 for the Company's Preclinical Imaging Systems. Before joining Bioscan, Mr. McCook held key sales and marketing executive positions at Applied Biosystems, Affymetrix, Inc. and PerkinElmer. In his prior sales roles, Mr. McCook has demonstrated the ability to identify and convert potential market opportunities into commercial success, bringing in strategic accounts and dramatically increasing product sales. Mr. McCook holds a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), Marketing from the University of MA, Lowell Graduate School of Management and a Bachelor of Science, Medical Technology MT(ASCP), from Framingham State College, Framingham, MA.

The Company also announced that it has granted Mr. McCook 240,000 stock options pursuant to the Company's incentive stock option plan. The options are exercisable at Cdn$0.045 per share, vest over four years, and expire ten years from the date of grant. The appointment of Mr. McCook as Vice President, Sales is subject to TSX approval.

About Hamilton Thorne Ltd. (www.hamiltonthorne.com)

Hamilton Thorne provides novel solutions for Life Science that reduce cost, increase productivity as much as ten-fold, and enable research breakthroughs in regenerative medicine, stem cell research and fertility markets. The Company's new LYKOS™, Staccato™ and Stiletto™ laser systems offer significant scientific advantages in the fields of developmental biology, cancer research and other segments of cell biology. Hamilton Thorne's laser products attach to standard inverted microscopes and operate as robotic micro-surgeons, enabling a wide array of scientific applications and procedures.

Hamilton Thorne's growing customer base includes pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies, fertility clinics, university research centers, and other commercial and academic research establishments worldwide. Current customers include world-leading research labs such as Harvard University, MIT, Yale, McGill University, DuPont, Monsanto, Charles River Labs, Jackson Labs, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Oxford University, and Cambridge.

Neither the Toronto Venture Exchange, nor its regulation services provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the exchange), accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Certain information in this press release may contain forward-looking statements. This information is based on current expectations that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements unless and until required by securities laws applicable to the Company. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in filings by the Company with the Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com.