Applied DNA Sciences Appoints Cosmetic Industry Veteran Elizabeth M. Schmalz Ferguson to Board of Directors

Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (Applied DNA, “the Company”) (NASDAQ: APDN), a provider of DNA-based supply-chain, anti-counterfeiting and anti-theft technology, product genotyping and DNA mass production for diagnostics, appointed Elizabeth M. Schmalz Ferguson to the Company’s Board of Directors, effective June 1, 2017. Ms. Ferguson was selected to serve based on her sterling track record of accomplishments as a strategist and product leader within the cosmetics industry. This appointment brings the total number of Board members to eight.

Dr. James Hayward, president and CEO of Applied DNA, said, “The addition of Betsy Schmalz Ferguson to our Board is aligned with our strategy to expand the application of our technologies within the cosmetics market, and we expect we will benefit greatly from her expertise. We welcome her to the Board and look forward to working together as we increase our presence in the cosmetics and personal care industries.”

Ms. Ferguson said, “Increasingly, over the course of my career, consumers have been more vocal in demanding information on the origin of their personal care and cosmetic products, so they make empowered choices in the quality of products they use. I am proud to join the Board of Directors of Applied DNA. I believe the Company offers a powerful tool for ensuring the authenticity and identity of ingredients that move through the supply chain and make it into consumers’ hands, and onto their skin. I believe I can apply my 30-plus years’ experience to assist in these initiatives and am enthusiastic about working with the rest of the Applied DNA team as they strive to bringing authenticated products to market.”

An innovator in the cosmetics and fragrance industry, Ms. Ferguson started her senior management career at Revlon with responsibility for new product development for companies including Borghese, Ultima II, and Prestige fragrances. Later, as Senior Vice President of Corporate Product Development at Estée Lauder, her responsibilities included overseeing product development for some of the company’s most prominent brands. Subsequently, she was Executive Vice President of Product Development at Bath and Body Works and Victoria’s Secret for The Limited. She currently serves as President of American Flavors & Fragrances, a fragrance company, and President of her own consulting firm, Betsy Schmalz Ferguson & Associates. She is an active member of Cosmetic Executive Women. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Georgian Court University.

About Applied DNA Sciences

Applied DNA Sciences makes life real and safe by providing innovative, molecular-based technology 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. The proprietary DNA-based “CertainTTM” Platform can be used to identify, tag, track, and trace products, to help assure authenticity, origin, traceability and quality of products. SigNature® DNA describes the core technology ingredient that is at the heart of a family of uncopyable, security and authentication solutions such as SigNature® T and fiberTyping®, targeted toward textiles and apparel, BackTrac™ and DNAnet®, for anti-theft and loss prevention, 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 also engaged in the large-scale production of specific DNA sequences using the polymerase chain reaction.

Go to adnas.com for more information, events and to learn more about how Applied DNA Sciences makes life real and safe. Common stock listed on NASDAQ under the symbol APDN, and warrants are listed under the symbol APDNW.

Forward-Looking Statements

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 6, 2016, and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed on February 9, 2017 and May 11, 2017, 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.