Luminex Corporation, the world leader in multiplexed solutions, said it has launched FlexmiR Select, a new microRNA (miRNA) assay designed to allow researchers to further advance understanding and enhance the analysis of miRNAs.

The latest addition to Luminex's FlexmiR line of products, FlexmiR Select allows researchers to create customized miRNA panels for more efficient and focused miRNA analysis.

"Researchers have made tremendous strides in identifying miRNAs and are beginning to uncover the role these tiny molecules play in disease," said Patrick J. Balthrop, president and chief executive officer, Luminex. "The next step in miRNA research is more concentrated analyses of small sets of miRNAs. FlexmiR Select is the ideal tool for this next level of research as it allows researchers to custom order panels consisting only of the miRNAs in which they are interested. These custom panels allow for more streamlined experiments and enhanced examination of specific miRNAs."

Until now, miRNA expression studies have been conducted on a global scale resulting in unnecessary data overload. Extensive expression studies have repeatedly shown that miRNA expression is specific to various experimental systems including tissues and cellular pathways. Application-specific subsets of miRNAs, which usually consist of fewer than 50 miRNAs, can be used to analyze larger numbers of samples to further investigate or validate potential miRNA markers.

"FlexmiR has enabled our lab to generate high quality data for our craniofacial bone development studies in less time compared to other technologies we have used," said Dr. Winston Patrick Kuo, director, Laboratory for Innovative Translational Technologies, Harvard School of Dental Medicine. "A better understanding of both normal and abnormal intramembranous bone development will be paramount to the advancement of future diagnoses, treatments and prevention of many craniofacial disorders. The ability to custom design our own assays will accelerate our research by allowing us to focus on bone-specific miRNAs that are relevant to our study."

Luminex's FlexmiR line of products is the only miRNA platform designed for both broad panel screens and smaller target validations. The FlexmiR Human and FlexmiR Mouse/Rat panels give researchers the ability to measure the expression of miRNA sequences from the public miRBase database. FlexmiR Select allows researchers to configure customized miRNA panels for their specific needs. FlexmiR Select provides the flexibility to mix and match up to 50 different miRNA probes in a single well, said the company in a recent press note.

Unlike conventional miRNA test methods, FlexmiR miRNA assays do not require enrichment or amplification; therefore, researchers find them to be simpler, faster and more reproducible than competing technologies.

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.