Luminex® and Exiqon signed an agreement to co-develop and commercialize microRNA products. Exiqon will develop and manufacture microRNA products on behalf of the Luminex Bioscience Group, based on Luminex’ xMAP® technology and Exiqon’s Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA™) technology.
LNAs are a class of nucleotide analogue that binds strongly to RNA and DNA targets. By including LNAs in detection probes, it is possible to design specific high-affinity detection assays for small RNA targets like miRNAs, which otherwise would not be possible using standard DNA-based detection probes.