Board Appointments

For immediate release 21 October 2011

ABCAM PLC

("Abcam" or "the Company")

Appointment of Non-Executive Directors

Abcam plc (AIM: ABC), a global leader in the supply of protein research tools, is pleased to announce the appointment of two of the UK's most successful e-commerce practitioners, Murray Hennessy and Michael Ross, as Non-Executive Directors with effect from 1 November 2011.

Murray Hennessy has an impressive track record of working internationally in customer-facing industries. He is currently chief executive of thetrainline.com, the online train ticket retailer, which he joined in 2008, prior to which he was chief executive of Avis Europe plc, the car rental company. Between 2001 and 2004, Murray was the commercial director of John Lewis Department Stores where he pioneered the store's online presence, johnlewis.com. After an early career as a management consultant in the London, Tokyo and Boston offices of Bain & Company, Murray held a number of senior positions in the restaurants industry and also led an internet start-up.

Michael Ross is an e-commerce executive and adviser with a high level of technical expertise. He co-founded eCommera in 2006, an e-commerce technology and advisory business where he is an executive director. He is currently a non-executive director of warehouseexpress.com and of Prescription Eyewear Limited, which operates the glassesdirect.com website. He is also an e-commerce adviser to a number of other businesses. After working in management consultancy at McKinsey & Company, Michael co-founded the online retailer figleaves.com in 1999, where he was chief executive officer until 2006.

As announced in the Company's preliminary results issued on 13 September 2011, both Tim Dye and Mark Webster will step down from Abcam's Board after today's Annual General Meeting.

Michael Redmond, Abcam's Chairman, commented: "I am delighted to welcome Murray and Michael to Abcam as Non-Executive Directors. They both have extremely strong e-commerce credentials, complementing the Board's existing life science and commercial experience. I look forward to their input to the Board as Abcam pursues its objective of becoming a broadly based, global life science tools company.

"Also, I would like to take this opportunity to again thank Tim and Mark for their significant contribution to Abcam's rapid growth and to wish them well in their future endeavours."

Additional information

Murray Edwin Hennessy, age 50 years, holds no shares in Abcam and, other than the directorships/partnerships set out below, there is no further information to be disclosed under schedule 2(g) and Rule 17 of the AIM Rules.

Michael Alexander Nunes Ross, age 42 years, holds no shares in Abcam and, other than the directorships/partnerships set out below, there is no further information to be disclosed under schedule 2(g) and Rule 17 of the AIM Rules.

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Notes for editors

About Abcam plc

Abcam is a producer and distributor of high quality protein research tools. These tools enable life scientists to analyse components of living cells at the molecular level which is essential in understanding health and disease.

Headquartered in Cambridge (UK), Abcam has subsidiary offices in Bristol (UK), Cambridge, MA. (USA), Eugene, OR. (USA), Tokyo (Japan) and Hong Kong (China) allowing it to serve a global customer base in over 85 countries. Abcam employs over 340 staff across its six operating companies.

Abcam now has an online catalogue of over 79,000 products sourced from more than 300 suppliers. The catalogue includes a growing range of non-primary antibody products such as secondaries, proteins, peptides, lysates, immunoassays and other kits. Products are available for life science research and distributed to academic and commercial users. A highly developed e-commerce platform, which includes regional websites for the Chinese and Japanese markets, allows customers to access up-to-date and detailed technical product data sheets at the Company's website www.abcam.com.

Abcam was admitted to AIM in November 2005 and trades under the ticker symbol ABC. The Company's vision is to be the leading provider of protein research tools globally.