Despite the uncertain economic times that we are living in today, Luminex continues to experience strong growth with financial performance. Our results in the third quarter of 2008 further solidify our position as the worldwide leader in multiplexed solutions. Moreover, the market for our products continues to expand, holding great promise for Luminex’s long term growth trajectory.

We are very pleased to have achieved total revenues of $28.9 million in Q3, a 49 percent increase year-over-year, and a net income of $3.2 million. Consumable and royalties revenues also rose substantially over 2007, up 47 and 45 percent respectively. Based upon our strong financial performance in 2008 to date, we have raised our revenue guidance for the year to between $102 million and $107 million, up from our previous guidance of $95 million to $105 million.

Our performance has been due to the ongoing robustness of systems sales, the demand for products from our diverse assay portfolio, and our ability to attract and sustain new and innovative partnerships. System shipments totaled 239 in Q3, the eighth consecutive quarter in which we achieved system placements of 200 or more. This brings us to a cumulative installed base to date of more than 5,600 systems distributed worldwide, an increase of 19 percent from the same period last year.

The current economic environment is uncharted territory for all of us. However, we believe that Luminex is well positioned to expect continued growth within our company. Our balance sheet is strong, with more than $118 million in cash or equivalents, and almost no debt. Our pipeline is healthy, with many new and updated products in development.  Moreover, the diversity of our product portfolio across a variety of segments including life sciences research, clinical diagnostics, and specialty markets position us well and makes us less dependent on any one sector.

Historically, we have seen that as companies begin tightening their belts, our ability to offer methods for cost reduction has provided us with market penetration opportunities in a slow economy. Our long term commitment to research and development reflects our commitment to bettering the already proven cost and labor efficiency of our products and demonstrating this efficiency through peer-reviewed data.

Preparing for Flu Season
After receiving clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the xTAG™ Respiratory Viral Panel (RVP) in January of this year, we have been very pleased with feedback from early adopters confirming the value in accurately diagnosing respiratory viruses with xTAG RVP.  This first-of-its-kind product has performed very well, and had a favorable clinical impact. For example, many users reported finding high rates of dual infections, and in rare cases, even triple infections, which would have been impossible without the power of multiplexing in xTAG RVP.

This quarter, we achieved another milestone for xTAG RVP with the announcement that Health Canada cleared xTAG RVP for 18 different viruses that cause the majority of respiratory illnesses. In anticipation of the upcoming flu season, the test has already been adopted by numerous labs across Canada.

Enhancing Market Potential through Innovative Partnerships
Luminex continues to pursue and develop relationships with leading companies in order to further the advancement of research in various applications where xMAP Technology shows great potential. During the third quarter, we renewed our partnership agreement with Genzyme Genetics for CFplus™. CFplus is a cystic fibrosis (CF) mutation test that simultaneously screens for 97 gene mutations and offers more comprehensive CF screening across many ethnic groups, even those in which CF is rare, such as Hispanics and African Americans. As part of our ongoing collaboration, Genzyme and Luminex are pursuing FDA 510(k) clearance for CFplus.

In September Luminex also signed a landmark development and supply agreement with the global medical technology company Becton-Dickinson and their BD Diagnostics-TriPath unit. In partnership with Luminex, BD will develop, market and sell new biomarker-based diagnostic tests using our xMAP Technology platform that will be designed to detect certain cancers at an earlier stage.

Diseases like ovarian cancer are notoriously difficult to detect early because, typically, the patient exhibits few clinical symptoms until the disease has reached stage 3 or stage 4. However, survival rate can be greater than 90 percent if the disease is detected in its early stages. With early diagnosis, clinicians can begin treatment sooner, which has been shown to improve outcomes. In this collaboration, BD will develop a series of multiplexed assays that will detect many of the clinically relevant biomarkers simultaneously, with the promise of early detection. Our agreement with BD is just one of many ways in which xMAP Technology is being employed to positively impact the quality of life of people around the world.

Looking Forward
At Luminex we are proud that our xMAP Technology is being utilized in ways that truly make a difference in human lives. We are dedicated to discovering and delivering ways in which our flexible multiplexing technology can be employed to improve the health and well-being of people around the world.

As always, we are grateful for the continued support of our partners, employees, and shareholders as we strive to improve science and healthcare. We look forward to reporting further exciting news in the months to come.