While many people are speculating as to whether Australia may become the next major hub for international biotech, questions are being asked of our local entrepreneurs and whether they have what it takes to turn IP into gold. [ + ]

Much is made of Australia's scientific intellectual capital and the opportunities that it offers. But according to one of the world's largest accounting groups, it is a dangerous myth that states successful companies will automatically flow from the nation's renowned research achievements. [ + ]

Drugs, vaccines, diagnostics and devices are the hotspots of the global biomedical market that Australia's biotech researchers are scrambling to fill with products. [ + ]

A few months ago, Dianna DeVore was an associate director of patents at Irish pharmaceutical company Elan in San Francisco. Now she's the chief operating officer of the National Centre for Stem Cells, Australia's first biotechnology Centre of Excellence. [ + ]

The most important concept for Australian biotechnology companies to grasp when building a nest, according to industry and property development experts, is proximity. [ + ]

New techniques for generating large amounts of biology-related data have given IT vendors new momentum in penetrating this traditionally low-tech segment of scientific research, a key IBM researcher told attendees at AusBiotech 2002 in Melbourne last week. [ + ]

As Australia's burgeoning young biotech hopefuls push toward clinical trials of their fledgling products, contract research organisations (CROs) are hoping for a rush of new business. [ + ]

While forensic scientists used to use blood typing and other methods to identify crime suspects, DNA identification and profiling is now the method of choice. Since its first use in an Australian court in 1989, the technology has moved from the controversial to the mainstream, although controversy still rages around the issue of creating databases of DNA profiles for criminal identification. [ + ]

In two years' time, a Federal government program credited with encouraging the injection of vital funds into Australian research and development will draw to a close. [ + ]

When Dr Graeme Woodrow joined Biotech Australia as a bench scientist in 1983, a colleague told him: 'It would be a scandal for anyone to make a profit from a malaria vaccine." [ + ]

When it comes to growing a biotech industry, it seems every state needs a geographic focal point. Victoria has the Parkville and Monash clusters, South Australia has the Thebarton hub and in Queensland the biotech industry is centred around Brisbane and the Gold Coast. In NSW, the population's inland sprawl has resulted in a spotlight being turned on Western Sydney. [ + ]

Researchers performing leading edge bioinformatics work are as likely to use a desktop machine as hold an account at a supercomputer centre. Whatever their hardware, the bio-IT wish list of most members of the research community is headed by the same item: software that is smarter on at least two counts. [ + ]

What's the difference between a biotech and a dot com? The average age of the board or directors. Funny? Maybe, but not exactly accurate. While there may be a sense of déjà vu - small start-ups looking for cash stampeding to the market - the biotech industry, unlike dot coms, is anything but an overnight phenomenon. [ + ]

In the last 10 years, we've seen a dizzying array of new variations of mass spectrometry instruments, and at the same time as we've seen radical changes in scientific discovery. Mass spectrometry has become a key tool across the life sciences, from discovery to routine lab work. Consequently there seems to be an almost limitless range of permutations of mass spec. [ + ]

During the past decade, dramatic progress in the field of mass spectrometry has resulted in a large increase in the number of commercially available mass spectrometry (MS) instruments principally used for biochemical analysis. Advances in mass spectrometry instrumentation, driven primarily by proteomics and the need to identify low abundance proteins (<50 femtomoles) has resulted in the current generation of instruments having approximately 50 times more sensitivity combined with substantially greater resolution than mass spectrometers available only four or five years ago. [ + ]