Trapped in the political crossfire of the stem cell debate, biotech industry icon Prof Alan Trounson has taken some heavy hits. [ + ]

The single most important thing an Australian biotechnology company can do to increase its chances of success, according to new Biota Holdings CEO Peter Molloy, is to be on the ground in the US. [ + ]

Australia's growing biotech industry has sparked recruitment sector interest. Pete Young surveys the scene [ + ]

Graeme O'Neill reports on the hiring challenges faced by small-to-medium Australian biotechs [ + ]

The biotech gold rush is creating huge demand for people with many strings to their bow, as Graeme O'Neill discovers [ + ]

Australia's biotech industry is flourishing and the jobs are definitely out there, reports Graeme O'Neill [ + ]

Take one gene, introduce two different mutations, and reproduce the symptoms of two major diseases of the digestive tract: gastric cancer and inflammatory bowel disease. And in addition to that two-for-one result, Assoc Prof Andy Giraud of Melbourne University (Western Hospital) and Dr Matthias Ernst of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research have convicted a suspect gene that their US and Japanese peers had previously exonerated. [ + ]

Out of sight, out of mind, and far too often, out of order - that malodorous monster, the septic tank, lurks just below the ground in the back yards of more than 450,000 homes around Australia's eastern seaboard, from Queensland to Victoria. Another 200,000 households around New Zealand are unsewered. [ + ]

As Australia's biggest public research institution, CSIRO occupies a unique niche. Employing 6500 people, the organisation has a huge diversity of scientific skills to apply to Australia's industries. [ + ]

The Centre of Bioinformatics and Biological Computing is a Western Australian research institute that has made thinking laterally about sources of funding into an art form. [ + ]

Persistence has paid off for Stanley Crooke and his company Isis Pharmaceuticals. [ + ]

The next time you start to worry about the drain of Australian scientific talent leaving town for better opportunities overseas, it might pay to remember the words of the director of Singapore's Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology, Chris Tan. Tan shrugs off such worries to opine that in Singapore's case, "Ideally, we'd be a 15-year revolving door." [ + ]

The comparison of the Australian and Singaporean biotech sectors highlights a fundamental principle of this highly volatile business: biotech needs lots of cash, but money burns pretty fast without good brains to spend it. [ + ]

It seems appropriate that the global CEO of a company engaged in the visualisation business is inclined to look at the big picture. Apart from being larger-than-life in person, Silicon Graphics (SGI) chief Bob Bishop is one of those outspoken, opinionated CEOs journalists love - one who is prepared to talk outside the finite square of profits and bottom lines to offer a world view. [ + ]

To most, patents are the life blood of innovation and discovery for the biotech sector, while to others they are a scourge. But as lawyers and industry experts warn, careless handling of the finer points of intellectual property can be catastrophic to both commercial and academic organisations. [ + ]