Luminex in licensing agreement for development of microRNA products

By Elaine Rigoli

Tampa, Fla., Feb. 28 - Luminex Corp. has signed a licensing agreement with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for non-exclusive intellectual property rights necessary to develop and commercialize microRNA assays and related products.

MicroRNAs are a group of small non-coding single-stranded portions of RNA molecules that have been implicated as playing a critical role as regulators of developmental timing, neuronal differentiation, cell proliferation, programmed cell death and fat metabolism, according to a company news release.

The intellectual property was developed through the scientific collaboration of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Institute; a collaboration of MIT, Harvard University, and affiliated hospitals; and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research (the Broad Institute).

"The researchers at the Broad Institute published what many consider to be landmark research in Nature last year demonstrating the importance of microRNA as it relates to gene and protein expression. This agreement with MIT is an important milestone for Luminex in the commercialization of microRNA assay products. We believe the emerging microRNA field represents a promising new space with significant commercial potential," said Patrick Balthrop, president and chief executive officer of Luminex, in a statement.

Austin, Texas-based Luminex develops, manufactures and markets proprietary biological testing technologies with applications throughout the life sciences industry.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.