Celera formally separates from Applied Biosystems' owner for Invitrogen's $7b buy [ + ]

Dispersing a fluid containing thousands of electrically charged microscopic silica beads across the surface of a DNA microarray and then observing the Brownian motion of the spheres provides measurements of the electrical charges of the DNA molecules. These measurements can be observed and recorded with a simple handheld imaging device and used to interrogate millions of DNA sequences at a time.

The world’s first elemental bio-imaging facility has officially opened at the University of Technology Sydney, focused on developing a novel metallomic imaging technique that accurately maps elements (such as trace metals) in biological tissues.

Safety receives TGA cert for pen needle aid [ + ]

Sonic Healthcare to acquire Swiss laboratory group [ + ]

Physics and biology have come together to solve one of science's big issues - the structure of membrane proteins - through the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coherent X-ray Science. [ + ]

From testing fat in sausages to dissecting the proteome of the lung-infecting fungus Cryptococcus gattii - it's been quite a journey for Associate Professor Ben Herbert, one of the speakers at this week's AOHUPO/PRICPS conference in Cairns. [ + ]

Joint NSW/Victorian project to compare three types of stem cells [ + ]

Victoria and California sign first MOU on inter-country stem cell research [ + ]

Stem Cell Sciences to license green florescent protein technology [ + ]

Optiscan announces 30-hospital-wide roll out of microendoscope. [ + ]

US company Thermo Fisher Scientific has achieved a number of breakthroughs in RNAi technology in the last couple of years and says it has come up with another - a method for delivering siRNAs to all cells, even the tough ones. [ + ]

Rightly or wrongly, concerns over GM crops contaminating their non-GM kin have led to a stalemate in progress towards acceptance of GM crops and foods. We look at a new approach using gene silencing and gene imprinting. [ + ]

Deciphering vertebrate development, sorting out the roosters from the hens and taking on bird flu - dare we say, all in one fowl swoop - that is the job of CSIRO's Dr Mark Tizard, who has created a new microRNA catalogue for the humble chook. [ + ]

Australian and New Zealand researchers are part of an international project of mutual interest (and age-old bad jokes) - the sequencing of the sheep genome. The difference for the International Sheep Genomics Consortium is the availability of short-read sequencing technology. [ + ]