Virax Holdings (ASX:VHL) has announced that former Arana Therapeutics executive Dr Rob Crombie will join the company as managing director in mid-June. [ + ]

The 2014-15 Budget will affect several areas of science, provoking comments from experts involved in the industry. [ + ]

CSL (ASX:CSL) has opened a biotechnology manufacturing plant in Melbourne as part of a $257m expansion of its Broadmeadows facilities. [ + ]

GI Dynamics (ASX:GID) has revealed that two more Australian sites are offering its obesity and diabetes device therapy EndoBarrier and has published research into the treatment's mechanism of action. [ + ]

Shares in Prima BioMed grew 30% after the company revealed it has won fast-track designation in the US for CVac in platinum-sensitive epithelial ovarian cancer in second remission. [ + ]

Researchers from the Wyss Institute have created a new organ-on-a-chip - a microfluidic device that mimics the physiology of a living organism. The device reproduces the structure, functions and cellular make-up of bone marrow. [ + ]

An international research team has created and observed several atoms of the superheavy element with atomic number 117. The measured properties of the atoms strengthen the case for official recognition of 117 as a new element. [ + ]

Novogen (ASX:NRT) has entered separate research collaborations aimed at adapting its super-benzopyran drugs to treat solid childhood cancers and neurodegenerative diseases. [ + ]

Melbourne-based biopharma Fibrotech has agreed to be bought out by Shire for an initial US$75 million ($80.9 million). The deal will also involve development and regulatory milestone payments. [ + ]

The six-year follow-up for the first patient enrolled in a phase II trial of Admedus's CardioCel tissue patch has detected no calcification issues or complications. [ + ]

The persistently high blood glucose levels associated with diabetes can, over time, cause damage to blood vessels that result in so-called diabetes-related complications. Preventing or reducing diabetes-related complications in the kidney is the focus of some of the work currently underway at the Baker IDI. [ + ]

Australian scientists have invented a simple way of making a high-powered lens that costs less than a cent and can transform a smartphone into a high-resolution microscope. [ + ]

Researchers have identified a possible mechanism for regrowing damaged nerve fibres in the central nervous system (CNS). Their discovery suggests it could one day be possible to chemically reprogram and repair damaged nerves after spinal cord injury or brain trauma. [ + ]

Electrical pulses delivered from a cochlear implant have been used to deliver gene therapy and succesfully regrow auditory nerves. [ + ]

Researchers from Harvard University have accidentally stumbled upon a shape called the hemihelix. While a related shape, the helix, is one of the most common structures in nature, the hemihelix is more complex and rarely seen. [ + ]