AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Luminex Corporation (NASDAQ: LMNX), the worldwide leader in multiplexed solutions, today announced the establishment of an office in Shanghai, People’s Republic of China. The new facility is Luminex’s center of operations in the Asia-Pacific region and will provide support and service to the company’s customers and partners in the area.

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Luminex currently has offices in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and Oosterhout, The Netherlands. The company elected to expand operations to China due to current success in the market and projected growth opportunities.

“The Chinese market is growing rapidly, and demand for Luminex’s multiplexing technologies among scientists in China is strong,” said Patrick J. Balthrop, president and chief executive officer of Luminex. “Our office in Shanghai will support existing clients and partners, allow us to reach new customers, partners and distributors and serve as a hub for sourcing new products in China and throughout the Asia-Pacific region. This expansion will allow us to reach additional scientists and work further toward achieving our mission of improving the health, safety and quality of life of people worldwide.”

With an annual growth rate of clinical laboratory equipment and reagents sales in the 15-20 percent range, China is Asia’s second largest clinical laboratory market and one of the fastest growing markets globally. Luminex xMAP® Technology is currently used across China, with instruments found in leading research institutions and major medical centers nationwide.

The Luminex office will be located in Pudong in southeastern Shanghai, which is China’s financial and commercial hub. Flanked by the Huangpu River and the East China Sea, Pudong is home to 1.5 million people and was declared a New Open Economic Development Zone in the 1990s.

Luminex’s Pudong office will increase the company’s global footprint, enhance user experience through direct service operations, and improve overall cost-effectiveness and support of China’s expanding life science and diagnostic industries.

The facility will include office and training lab space, and will employ a full-time staff.

Luminex’s China operation is on record as the Luminex Trading (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

About Luminex Corporation

Luminex Corporation develops, manufactures and markets proprietary biological testing technologies with applications throughout the diagnostic and life sciences industries. The Company’s xMAP® multiplex solutions include 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 markets. The Company’s xMAP Technology is sold worldwide and is already in use in leading clinical laboratories as well as major pharmaceutical, diagnostic and biotechnology companies. Further information on Luminex Corporation or xMAP Technology can be obtained at www.luminexcorp.com.