Luminex Corporation Hosts Planet xMAP USA Technology Symposium

Keynote Speaker Dr. Larry Sklar Will Explore Using Multiplexing Technology in Drug Discovery 


AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 16  /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Luminex Corporation (NASDAQ:LMNX), a leading multiplex solutions developer, has announced speakers for its annual Planet xMAP USA end-user technology symposium.  Planet xMAP USA 2007 will be held March 12-14 at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott Hotel in Dana Point, California.  Celebrating its fourth year, Planet xMAP includes presentations and workshops regarding the utilization of Luminex's xMAP(R) multiplexing technology in clinical diagnostics and life sciences research.

"Planet xMAP brings together opinion leaders from diverse disciplines to share ideas," said James W. Jacobson, Ph.D., Vice President, Chief Scientific Officer of Luminex Corporation.  "This symposium is intended to be interactive and collaborative, allowing our participants and presenters to discuss best practices, experiences with multiplexing technology and new applications for xMAP technology.  Ultimately, our focus is learning from one another to improve the science - from the research lab to the clinic."

The keynote speaker for the Planet xMAP USA Symposium is Larry Sklar Ph.D., Director of Basic Research at the University of New Mexico Cancer Center.  Dr. Sklar's research interests include signal transduction, cell adhesion, leukocyte biology and high throughput technologies for molecular assembly and drug discovery.  His Planet xMAP presentation, "High Throughput Flow Cytometry of Multiplexed Targets for Drug Discovery," will examine the application of flow cytometry in drug discovery for cell and bead-based targets. It proposes that the capabilities of flow cytometry will be uniquely realized in the realm of multiplexed assays across receptor families, protein- protein and protein-small molecule interactions, and will potentially extend across broad genomic families.

Other guest speakers will discuss a broad range of applications including molecular diagnostics, gene expression, immunodiagnostics and protein analysis.  The speakers include:

Rajeev Dhawan, Ph.D., Director, Diagnostics Reagents, Charles River Laboratories - Development and Validation of Multiplexed Fluorometric Immunoassay(R) (MFIA(R)) for Serodiagnosis of Laboratory Rodents Infectious Diseases using Luminex xMAP(R) Technology

Karen Ebsworth, Senior Associate Scientist, Amgen, Inc. - Gene Expression Analysis by QuantigenePlex(R): Validation and Applications

Christine Ginocchio, Ph.D., Director, Microbiology/Virology and Molecular Diagnostics Long Island Jewish Health System Laboratories - Multiplexed Molecular Testing for the Detection of Human Respiratory Viruses using the ID- Tag(TM) RVP Assay

Jim Mahony, Ph.D., Director of the McMaster University Regional Virology and Clamydiology Laboratory and President of the Pan American Society of

Clinical Virology - Detection and Identification of 20 Respiratory Viruses Using Multiplex PCR and the Luminex xMAP System

Mary McBride, Ph.D., Associate Division Leader, Medical Physics and Biophysics Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory - FluIDx:  A Multiplexed Diagnostic Platform for Use at Point-of-Care

Paul Rhyne, Ph.D., Group Leader, Pharmaceutical Research Institute - Comparative Analysis of 10 Multiplexed Cytokine Immunoassays Using Multiple Technology Platforms

John Ruzinski, B.S., Research Scientist, Pulmonary and Critical Care Harborview Medical Center - Identification of High and Low Cytokine Responders to Agonists in the Toll Like Receptor Pathway Using xMAP Technology

Leslie M. Shaw, Ph.D., Professor and Director, Clinical Toxicology Laboratory, Director, Xenobic Toxicokinetics Research Laboratory, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center - Characterization of the xMAP Technology and Performance of INNO-BIA ALZBIO3 for Quantification in CSF of the Alzheimer's Disease Biomarkers b- AMYLOID(1-42), TOTAL TAU and Phosphorylated TAU(181P)

Ergang Shi, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. - Monoclonal Antibody Classification Based on Epitope Binding Using Differential Antigen Disruption

Keld Sorensen, Ph.D., Luminex Bioscience Group, Director, Research & Development Luminex Corporation - High Throughput microRNA Expression Profiling Using a Bead Based Multiplex System

Weimin Sun, Ph.D., Scientific Director, Molecular Genetics Department, Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute - Implementation of Multiplex xMAP-based Genotyping Assays in a High-Throughput Diagnostic Laboratory

Uday Veerramallu, Senior Director, Bioprocess Development, Biosite Discovery/Biosite Inc. - Antibody Screening and Early Evaluation of Biomarker Utility Using xMAP Technology

Kodumudi Venkat Venkateswaran, Ph.D., Vice President, Research and Business Development Radix BioSolutions - Application of xMAP Technology for Personalized Medicine and Immune Monitoring of Cancer Vaccine Therapy

Jim Versalovic, M.D., Ph.D., Director, Division of Molecular Pathology, Texas Children's Hospital Director, Microbiology Laboratories, Texas Children's Hospital Assistant Professor of Pathology, Molecular and Human Genetics, and Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine - Liquid Bead Arrays for the Diagnosis of Bacterial Sepsis

Jean Amos Wilson, Ph.D., Scientific Director, Human Genetics Focus Diagnostics, Inc - The Migration of Cystic Fibrosis Testing to the Middle Market

Peter Zimmerman, Ph.D., Associate Professor, The Center for Global Health and Diseases, Case Western Reserve University - A Multiplex Ligase Detection Reaction-Fluorescent Microsphere Assay (LDR-FMA) for Simultaneous Diagnosis of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms Associated with Plasmodium falciparum Drug Resistance

Dr. James Jacobson, Luminex's Chief Scientific Office will highlight recent applications and developments and Dr. John Carrano, Luminex's Vice President of Research and Development will present information on future plans for Luminex applications and technology development.

Planet xMAP 2007 features a dynamic series of workshops, discussion groups and networking events.  Day One will include workshops from several of Luminex's partners, who have developed applications and software solutions using xMAP technology. Day Two is dedicated to academic research and pharmaceutical research applications.  Day Three focuses on clinical diagnostics and clinical research applications.  For additional information regarding the Planet xMAP USA Symposium or to register online, please visit http://www.luminexcorp.com/planetxmap, call 512-219-8020 or e-mail .

About Luminex

Luminex Corporation develops, manufactures and markets proprietary biological testing technologies with applications throughout the life sciences industry. The Company's xMAP system is an open-architecture, multi-analyte technology platform that delivers fast, accurate and cost-effective bioassay results to markets as diverse as pharmaceutical drug discovery, clinical diagnostics and biomedical research, including the genomics and proteomics research markets. The Company's xMAP technology is sold worldwide and is already in use in leading research laboratories as well as major pharmaceutical, diagnostic and biotechnology companies. Luminex's xMAP technology received the 2005 Clinical Diagnostics Technology of the Year Award from Frost & Sullivan. The Company was named in the 2005 Deloitte Fast 500 of fastest growing technology companies. Further information on Luminex Corporation or xMAP can be obtained on the Internet at http://www.luminexcorp.com/.

   Luminex Corporate Contact:
   Harriss T. Currie
   Vice President, Finance/Chief Financial Officer
   512.219.8020
   

   Luminex Media Contact:
   Nicole Cottrill
   Seigenthaler Public Relations, Inc.
   327.327.7999
   

DATASOURCE: Luminex Corporation



CONTACT:  Harriss T. Currie, Vice President, Finance - Chief Financial

Officer, [phone], or , or Luminex Media

Contact, Nicole Cottrill of Seigenthaler Public Relations, Inc.,

[phone], or  



Web site:  http://www.luminexcorp.com/planetxmap

http://www.luminexcorp.com/ 

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