Luminex Corporation Hosts Ninth Annual Planet xMAP Europe in Vienna

AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Luminex Corporation (NASDAQ: LMNX), today announced that it will host Planet xMAP Europe 2011, its annual European multiplexing technology symposium, September 28-29, 2011, at The Hofburg in Vienna, Austria. The event will feature scientific sessions, workshops, discussion groups, exhibitions and networking events with scientists and researchers from around the world who are performing groundbreaking work in clinical diagnostics and life science research using the Luminex xMAP® multiplexing technology platform.  

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"Key areas of focus for this year's symposium include pathogen detection, immunology-monitoring, human genetics, protein and nucleic acid research," said Paul C. Ladestein, General Manager European Operations for Luminex. "Planet xMAP Europe is an excellent opportunity for leading scientists to gather and exchange ideas on how xMAP multiplexing technology is revolutionizing their laboratories and research."

xTAG® GPP is only one example of the innovations in molecular diagnostics that highlights this year's agenda. CE marked xTAG GPP, the only test to simultaneously detect and identify up to 95 percent of the disease causing bacterial, viral and gastroenteritis pathogens in a single test, was used as a front-line test during the recent German outbreak of a novel E. coli strain.

Planet xMAP Europe 2011 will feature two days of presentations with focused session options.  

Day One of Planet xMAP Europe 2011, Wednesday, 28 September, will focus on Pathogen Detection, the xTAG Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel (GPP), Immunology-Monitoring, and HLA-Human Genetics.

The morning session will include the following presentations:

Eugene Halligan, Ph.D., St. Thomas' Hospital, London, UK, "An evaluation of the Luminex xTAG® Gastrointestinal Pathogen Panel at a London teaching hospital 2011: The comparative performance of a rapid molecular multiplex assay and current standard laboratory investigations for gastroenteritis"

Matthew Albert, M.D., Head, Laboratory of Dendritic Cell Immunobiology, Director, Department of Immunology, Pasteur Institute, Paris, France, "How biomarker discovery can lead to new insights into disease pathogenesis and new therapeutic targets for chronic HCV infection"

Morten Ruhwald, M.D., Hvidovre Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark, "Immuno-diagnosis of tuberculosis infection using IP-10"

Prof. Jean-Louis Merlin, Unite de Biologie des Tumeurs, Nancy, France, "Phosphoprotein array assay companion diagnostics for response prediction to monoclonal antibodies and kinase inhibitors in oncology"

Holly Soares, Ph.D., Director Neuroscience Clinical Biomarkers Group, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Wallingford, CT, USA, "Use of multiplex panels to identify novel CSF and plasma biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease"

The afternoon session will feature three separate tracks focused on Human Genetics, Immunology-Monitoring, and Pathogen Detection.

Day Two of Planet xMAP Europe 2011, Thursday, 29 September, will focus on Genomic and Protein Research.

The morning session will include the following presentations:

John E. Connolly, Ph.D., Director, Program in Translational Immunology Principal Investigator, Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN), "Systems Approaches to Monitoring Immune Responses in Clinical Trials"

Prof. Dr. Matthias Mack, Institute for Technical Microbiology, Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, Mannheim, Germany, "A high-throughput microtiter plate-based screening method for the detection of full-length recombinant proteins"

Alina Deshpande, Ph.D., D-3, Systems Engineering and Integration Decision, Applications Division, Los Alamos, NM, USA, "Multiplexed Nucleic Acid-Based Assays for Human Disease Diagnosis"

Prof. Christophe Sola, Microbiology and Genetic Institute UMR8621, Orsay University, Paris, France, "CRISPR and RNA characterization on microspheres for academic and operational research in microbiology"

Tom Copa, Vice President, Life Science Research & Food Safety, Luminex Corporation, Austin, TX, USA, "It's About Time"

The afternoon session will feature two separate tracks focused on Genomic Research and Protein Research.

For detailed information regarding the Planet xMAP Europe 2011 symposium and agenda, or to register online, please visit http://www.planetxmap.com.

About Luminex Corporation

Luminex is committed to applying its passion for innovation to advancing healthcare and research worldwide.  We are transforming global healthcare and life-science research through the development, manufacturing, and marketing of proprietary instruments and assays utilizing our xMAP open-architecture, multi-analyte platform and our MultiCode real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and multiplex PCR-based technologies that deliver cost-effective and rapid results to clinicians and researchers.  Our technology is commercially available worldwide and in use in leading clinical laboratories as well as major pharmaceutical, diagnostic, biotechnology and life-science companies.  We are meeting the needs of customers in markets as diverse as clinical diagnostics, pharmaceutical drug discovery, biomedical research including genomic and proteomic research, personalized medicine, bio-defense research and food safety.  For further information on Luminex Corporation and the latest advances in multiplexing using award winning technology please visit our website at http://www.luminexcorp.com.

SOURCE Luminex Corporation