CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 08, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vericel Corporation (Nasdaq:VCEL), a leading developer of patient-specific expanded cellular therapies for the treatment of severe diseases and conditions, today announced that Nick Colangelo, president and CEO, will present at the 15th Annual Needham Healthcare Conference at The Westin Grand Central Hotel in New York, NY on Tuesday, April 12, 2016, at 9:20am Eastern time.

The presentation will be webcast live and may be accessed from the news and events section of the Vericel website: http://wsw.com/webcast/needham76/vcel.

About Vericel Corporation

Vericel Corporation is a leader in developing patient-specific expanded cellular therapies for use in the treatment of patients with severe diseases and conditions. The company markets two autologous cell therapy products in the United States: Carticel® (autologous cultured chondrocytes), an autologous chondrocyte implant for the treatment of cartilage defects in the knee, and Epicel® (cultured epidermal autografts), a permanent skin replacement for the treatment of patients with deep-dermal or full-thickness burns comprising greater than or equal to 30 percent of total body surface area. Vericel is also developing MACI™, a third-generation autologous chondrocyte implant for the treatment of cartilage defects in the knee, and ixmyelocel-T, a patient-specific multicellular therapy for the treatment of advanced heart failure due to ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. For more information, please visit the company's website at www.vcel.com.

CONTACT: Chad Rubin

         The Trout Group
         crubin@troutgroup.com
         (646) 378-2947

         or

         Lee Stern
         The Trout Group
         lstern@troutgroup.com
         (646) 378-2922