Luminex Corporation Participates in Community Initiatives to Save Lives
Austin Life Sciences Company Sponsors 18th Annual Marrow Ambassadors Golf Tournament and Supports Medical School Initiative
AUSTIN, Texas, Oct. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Luminex Corporation (NASDAQ: LMNX) today announced that they have joined forces again this year with the National Marrow Donor Program – Be The Match® to raise awareness of the need for additional bone marrow donors to help save lives. In addition to sponsoring the 18th Annual Marrow Ambassadors Golf Tournament, Luminex will be conducting a donor drive at the event, which will be held at Twin Creeks Country Club in Cedar Park, Texas.
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Every year, thousands of people of all ages are diagnosed with blood cancers like leukemia or lymphoma, sickle cell anemia or other life-threatening diseases. Many of them will die unless they get a bone marrow or cord blood transplant from a matching donor. However, medical advances are making marrow and umbilical cord blood transplants available to more patients all the time. Since beginning operations in 1987, the Be The Match® registry has grown to more than 10 million donors, and has facilitated over 50,000 transplants. Today, more than 5,500 transplants are facilitated a year.
Laboratories around the world currently use Luminex xMAP® Technology to match donors and transplant recipients, and to monitor post-transplant rejection. Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA) found in the blood, are the primary source of immuno-rejection during transplant. This class of markers is characterized by numerous genetic mutations, many of which directly affect the immune response during transplantation. Luminex xMAP® Technology allows high-resolution genotyping of up to 100 unique alleles within a single sample volume prior to a patient undergoing transplant surgery. The same xMAP platform can then be used to perform immunoassays that test for an antibody response in the patient post-surgery.
"We are honored to support the efforts of the Marrow Ambassadors and the National Marrow Donor Program – Be The Match® and to help raise awareness of the need for additional donors," said Patrick J. Balthrop, president and CEO of Luminex. "It is inspiring to all of us at Luminex to personally meet members of our community that have been brought together through our technology, and it reinforces our mission of innovating solutions that save lives."
At this year's event, donor Zach Moore, a college student who joined the registry through his university, will meet with the recipient of his marrow transplant, Shannon Dean Turci, a 38-year-old mother diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia, now in remission. Also in attendance will be participants from Seton Hospital [and Central Health], as well as community members leading efforts to create a medical school here in Austin.
Luminex, a leader in the Austin biotechnology community, is a strong supporter of the medical school initiative, which has significant potential to foster further growth of the biotechnology industry, and continue innovation of life-saving technologies for patients worldwide. Sandy Guzman, Legislative Director to Texas State Senator Kirk Watson, will provide further insight about the initiative during the dinner program.
About the Marrow Ambassadors Golf Tournament
The 18th Annual Marrow Ambassadors Golf Tournament benefits the Marrow Donor Programs of Central and South Texas by providing tissue-typing funds for donors, and by making matches possible for patients in need of life-saving bone marrow transplants. Since 1994, Founder Steele Zinser and the Bone Marrow Ambassadors have raised funds for hundreds of Central Texas donors through this annual event.
To register for the golf tournament, visit http://www.southtexasblood.org/BeTheMatch.asp. For additional information about joining the donor registry, and helping to save a life, visit http://www.marrow.org/Join/Join_the_Registry.aspx or call Aracely Calzadias, Marrow Recruitment Consultant for the National Marrow Donor Program – Be The Match in Austin at (512) 206-1331.
About Luminex Corporation
Luminex is committed to applying its passion for innovation toward advancing healthcare and research worldwide. The company is transforming global healthcare and life-science research through the development, manufacturing and marketing of proprietary instruments and assays utilizing xMAP® open-architecture, multi-analyte platform, MultiCode® real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and multiplex PCR-based technologies, that deliver cost-effective rapid results to clinicians and researchers. Luminex's technology is commercially available worldwide and in use in leading clinical laboratories, as well as major pharmaceutical, diagnostic, biotechnology and life-science companies. Luminex is meeting the needs of customers in markets as diverse as clinical diagnostics, pharmaceutical drug discovery, biomedical research including genomic and proteomic research, personalized medicine, biodefense research and food safety. For further information on Luminex Corporation and the latest advances in multiplexing using award winning technology, please visit http://www.luminexcorp.com/.
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Luminex Corporation
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SOURCE Luminex Corporation
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