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January 6, 2012

Pacific Biosciences Names Michael W. Hunkapiller Chief Executive Officer

MENLO PARK, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (NASDAQ:PACB), provider of

Single Molecule Real Time (SMRT®) sequencing products, today

announced the appointment of Michael W. Hunkapiller, Ph.D., as President

and Chief Executive Officer effective immediately. He succeeds Hugh

Martin, who will remain on the Board of Directors through the company’s

next annual meeting of shareholders.

Dr. Hunkapiller was named Executive Chairman of PacBio’s Board of

Directors in October 2011. Dr. Hunkapiller spent 21 years of his career

helping build Applied Biosystems (“ABI,” now part of Life Technologies

Inc.) into a market leader in the life sciences industry. From 1995 to

2004 he served as ABI’s President and General Manager. In 2004 he joined

Alloy Ventures as a General Partner, and in 2005 led Alloy’s investment

in PacBio and joined the company’s Board of Directors. Dr. Hunkapiller

will continue to represent Alloy Ventures as a Director of NuGEN,

Verinata Health and RainDance Technologies.

“I am excited and honored to take on the role of President and CEO of

PacBio,” said Dr. Hunkapiller. “Since joining the company’s Board, I

have always believed that our SMRT technology would play a significant

role in biological research and the advancement of medical therapies.

Now that we have begun to deliver products to customers, I am more

convinced than ever that we are on our way to fulfilling that promise.

The company is in great position with the people, products, and cash to

drive the adoption of its disruptive technology.”

Bill Ericson, PacBio’s lead independent Board Member and Mohr Davidow

General Partner commented: “We are thankful for Hugh’s dedication and

efforts in transforming PacBio from an early stage R&D company to a

leader in single molecule technology. Mike brings unmatched expertise,

experience and relationships with customers in the life science tools

market and is uniquely qualified to lead the company through its next

stage of growth.”

Mr. Martin commented: “Developing a technology as advanced as single

molecule sequencing was a tremendous achievement for PacBio, and Mike is

now the ideal person to drive the broader adoption of PacBio’s products.

I am in support of this decision and am looking forward to identifying

my next exciting career venture.”

For more information about Pacific Biosciences, please visit www.pacificbiosciences.com.

You can also follow the company on Twitter www.twitter.com/pacbio.

About Pacific Biosciences

Pacific Biosciences’ mission is to transform the way humankind acquires,

processes and interprets data from living systems through the design,

development and commercialization of innovative tools for biological

research. The company has developed a novel approach to studying the

synthesis and regulation of DNA, RNA and proteins. Combining recent

advances in nanofabrication, biochemistry, molecular biology, surface

chemistry and optics, Pacific Biosciences has created a powerful

technology platform called single molecule, real-time, or SMRT®,

technology. SMRT technology enables real-time analysis of biomolecules

with single molecule resolution, which has the potential to transform

the understanding of biological systems by providing a window into these

systems that has not previously been open for scientific study.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking

statements may contain words such as “believe,” “may,” “estimate,”

“anticipate,” “continue,” “intend,” “expect,” “plan,” the negative of

these terms, or other similar expressions, and include the assumptions

that underlie such statements. Such statements include, but are not

limited to, statements regarding the Company’s SMRT technology and the

Company’s growth. These statements are subject to known and unknown

risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ

materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including

but not limited to risks discussed from time to time in documents

Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. has filed with the Securities

and Exchange Commission, including the risks identified under the

section captioned “Risk Factors” in its recently filed Quarterly Report

on Form 10-Q. All forward-looking statements are based on estimates,

projections and assumptions as of the date hereof. Pacific Biosciences

undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

For Pacific BiosciencesNicole Litchfield, 415-793-6468 (Media)
nicole@bioscribe.com
or
Pacific

BiosciencesTrevin Rard, 650-521-8450 (Investors)
ir@pacificbiosciences.com

Source: Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc.

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