CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 8, 2015 (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 it will present a corporate update at the 14^th Annual Needham Healthcare Conference at 4:20 pm Eastern time on Wednesday, April 15, at the Westin Grand Central Hotel in New York. A live webcast of the presentation will be accessible through the news and events section of the company's website or can be accessed here: http://wsw.com/webcast/needham71/vcel/

About Vericel Corporation

Vericel Corporation (formerly Aastrom Biosciences, Inc.) 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