Of course even the most disappointing research student understands that the key to successfully conducting placebo-based studies is keeping your subjects in the dark. [ + ]

Australian biotech stocks slipped into the red for the first week in seven today while the wider market managed to sneak into the black. [ + ]

Cancer specialists Novogen announced today that it has finalised the sale of its portfolio of isoflavone compounds to its 71 percent owned US subsidiary Marshal Edwards. [ + ]

The incompatibility between quantum theory and consciousness may be overcome if we jettison the heliocentric model of the universe and adopt a theory proposed by South Korean scientist Dr Daegene Song. Dr Song suggests that the universe may not be objectively 'real', in the sense that it may not exist if there is no-one to observe it.

In only five years, genome-wide association studies have made a tremendous impact on our understanding of disease and health. But despite great hopes, there are also great challenges ahead for the GWAS. [ + ]

CLS Principal Scientist, Samantha Busfield, is working on CSL’s newly developed anti-interleukin-3 (IL3) receptor antibody in the hope that it will provide a new treatment for acute myeloid leukaemia. [ + ]

Australian diagnostic specialists HealthLinx reported today that the initial data from a second multinational study involving its ovarian cancer diagnostic OvPlex demonstrate a marked increase in diagnostic effectiveness compared to relying only on the standard CA125 blood test. [ + ]

Dr Karin Innes, patent attorney with FB Rice & Co boils the 170-page report down to 16 key recommendations and explains what they mean for you. [ + ]

British researchers have published the results of a study which shows that a small dose of aspirin daily could dramatically reduce incidences of cancer related death. [ + ]

Professor Marilyn Anderson’s work has led to a greatly improved understanding of how plants protect themselves from insects and disease, and in turn how various assailants circumvent these defence mechanisms. [ + ]

Australian biotech Biotron has reaffirmed its commitment to its HIV drug program following the release of an independent international study demonstrating that the protein Vpu plays a key role in allowing the virus to proliferate. [ + ]

A NIST research group has developed TGA instrumentation capable of handling sample sizes an order of magnitude less than current commercial instruments.

Researchers at Melbourne’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have published a study which shows that mature blood cells have the ability to communicate with and affect the behaviour of their stem cell parents [ + ]

In a biosynthetic breakthrough that paves the way for other pharmaceuticals, researchers have announced the first successful production of the antibiotic erythromycin A, and two variations, using E. coli as the production host.

Ian Rourke, Karin Innes and Danielle Burns from patent attorneys FB Rice & Co argue that the recently introduced private member's bill on biological patents is ill thought-out. [ + ]