STONY BROOK, NY, January 30, 2015. Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: APDN), (Twitter: @APDN), a provider of DNA-based anti-counterfeiting technology and product authentication solutions, announced today that the US Patent and Trademark Office issued the “Methods for Genotyping Mature Cotton Fibers and Textiles” patent #8,940,485 on January 27, 2015 for the company’s pimaTyping^® authentication of extra long staple or pima cotton-based products.

This patent encompasses the identification of genetic differences among various Extra Long Staple (“ELS”) cotton cultivars. Unlike APDN’s fiberTyping^® patent (US Pat. # 8,669,079) that identifies the genetic differences between two cotton species, G. barbadense and G. hirsutum, this new patent enables identification of minor genetic differences among various cultivars under the G. bardadense species. This patent makes it possible to distinguish US Pima cotton from other ELS cottons grown around the world, such as Egyptian Giza cotton or Chinese Xinjiang ELS cotton.

Dr. Benjamin Liang, Chief Scientific Officer, and inventor of the patent commented: “This patent is an important milestone for our company as well as the textile industry, because we have proven that we can extract DNA from samples of mature cotton fiber taken from a textile item, and verify its origin. We are in the process of developing commercial testing kits, and in the future, will be able to provide authentication services on site. Given, the high resolution of this test, we offer customized assay development programs for pimaTyping, that is a complement but not a substitute for fiberTyping, which is already globally used to authenticate ELS products.”

The portfolio of cotton authentication technologies will be important to growers, ginners, manufacturers, brands, retailers and governments. Using this new assay, suppliers can assure their “American Pima” labels, even when their products are manufactured off shore.

“This is valuable information for growers as well as manufacturers and consumers to know that a product labeled as ELS, can now be verified to its original source. As a cotton grower, we pride ourselves on the quality, integrity of the Pima ELS fiber that is grown here in the San Joaquin Valley. More importantly, the future of cotton production is protected because products labeled as Pima ELS can be verified through DNA technology — now that’s exciting,” commented Cannon Michael, President, Bowles Farming Company.

Dr. James Hayward, President and CEO of APDN commented:  “This is an extraordinarily valuable extension of our Intellectual Property portfolio. fiberTyping is in wide use to detect noncompliance with specifications when upland cotton is substituted for ELS. Now pimaTyping will allow us to identify source when non-American ELS is substituted for the American cultivar. Our portfolio allows us to diagnose supply chain problems in cotton with genotyping, we can then future-proof the supply chain with SigNature T marking as we have already demonstrated.”

With SigNature T marking and authentication, suppliers of cotton to the US military can prove their cotton is of American origin, in compliance with the Berry Amendment, which applies generally to textiles and apparel which gives preference to government suppliers who use American-grown cotton.

 About Applied DNA Sciences

We make life real and safe by providing botanical-DNA based security and authentication solutions and services that can help protect products, brands, entire supply chains, and intellectual property of companies, governments and consumers from theft, counterfeiting, fraud and diversion. SigNature^® DNA describes the platform ingredient that is at the heart of all of our security and authentication solutions. SigNature DNA is at the core of a family of uncopyable products such as DNAnet^®, our anti-theft product, SigNature^® T, targeted toward textiles, and digitalDNA^®, providing powerful track and trace. All provide a forensic chain of evidence and can be used to prosecute perpetrators.

Applied DNA Sciences is listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol APDN, and its warrants are listed under the symbol APDNW.

Forward-Looking Statement

The statements made by APDN in this press release may be “forward-looking” in nature within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements describe APDN’s future plans, projections, strategies and expectations, and are based on assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of APDN. Actual results could differ materially from those projected due to our short operating history, limited financial resources, limited market acceptance, market competition and various other factors detailed from time to time in APDN’s SEC reports and filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on December 15, 2014, which are available at www.sec.gov. APDN undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date hereof to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, unless otherwise required by law.