Luminex makes an Australian acquisition and a North Carolina collaboration deal

AUSTIN, Texas—Multiplexed solutions provider LuminexCorp. announced both an overseas acquisition and a licensing agreement on March25 at its Annual Investor Day, which was held at the NASDAQ MarketSite in NewYork City.

The acquisition, which was of Australia-based BSDRobotics, is expected to provide the company access to new technology andproducts, an innovative development team and an established presence inimportant strategic markets.

BSD specializes in automation and robotics in thefield of dry sample handling. The privately held company, which was founded in1991, is headquartered in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. BSDhas developed leading positions in several molecular diagnostics markets , butalso has "established leadership positions in the worldwide newborn screeningand forensics and human identification markets,"

"BSD is excited to become a part of Luminex." saysAllan Morrison, managing director of BSD. "Our companies share a commitment toscience, innovation and the highest customer service. There is great potentialto combine our technologies and expertise to create new products and reachscientists in many industry sectors, from genetic testing to animal health."

Also unveiled at the same time was the exclusivecollaboration and licensing agreement with Research Triangle Park, N.C.-based AdvancedLiquid Logic, under which the companies will leverage their respectiveproprietary technologies and co-develop new analytic systems and assays "thatwill help clinicians and scientists across several strategic markets deliverhighly accurate results faster and more efficiently."

Advanced Liquid Logic was founded in 2004 toexploit a patented and proprietary technology for micro-liquid-handling calleddigital microfluidics. Digital microfluidics is, as Luminex describes, "aninnovative approach to liquid handling that does not use pipes, pumps orvalves. Discrete droplets are manipulated electrically to independently controleach droplet. The technology enables highly flexible devices that can beconfigured in software to execute virtually any assay protocol."

When digital microfluidic technology is combinedwith Luminex's xMAP Technology and three dimensional liquid arrays, it is saidto provide a very versatile sample preparation and assay delivery platform.

"Our team is very pleased to collaborate withLuminex," says Richard West, CEO of Advanced Liquid Logic. "By combining LiquidLogic's digital microfluidic technology with Luminex's xMAP Technology, we cancreate smaller, more cost-efficient systems and very streamlined assays thatrequire less hands-on time and provide very fast, accurate results.