Researchers are one step closer to a treatment that could 'turn off' the immune response that causes common allergies, including asthma — which affects over two million Australians. [ + ]

Cost-competitiveness, high-quality data and fast study start-up times are some of the key factors that make Australia an attractive market for clinical trials. But as other countries strive to improve their clinical competitiveness, can Australia hold a dominant position? [ + ]

Obtaining a patent for a biotech invention is crucial to its further development and eventual commercialisation. Whether it's a new drug, insecticide or diagnostic, the developer needs to know they will have exclusive ownership of the invention and enjoy a return on their usually significant investment when they take the invention to the market. [ + ]

The president of the Australian Society for Microbiology, ASN Conference organisers and the organising committee would like to invite you to stunning Tasmania for the 45th Annual Scientific Meeting and Trade Exhibition. The event will be held in Tasmania's capital city, Hobart, from 2–5 July. [ + ]

Monash University researchers have uncovered how a group of proteins perform like a 'dimmer switch', causing inflammation ranging from acute to chronic. The findings could contribute to new treatments for inflammatory diseases including type 2 diabetes, atherosclerosis, heart attack and stroke.

The National Health and Medical Research Council has restructured its grant program following a major review. [ + ]

Professor Philip Hugenholtz is a microbiologist with a particular interest in 'microbial dark matter' — the vast majority of microorganisms that have not be grown on an agar plate. [ + ]

The Menzies School of Health Research recommends a two-stage treatment for the notoriously difficult-to-cure Plasmodium vivax malaria, which has a similar approach to removing weeds from a garden bed. [ + ]

The World Health Organization recently issued a warning about the need to urgently develop new antibiotics to counter the growing threat of 'superbugs'. [ + ]

Electronic recording of temperatures with data stored in the cloud is pretty standard, but the choice of sensor type is often overlooked. [ + ]

The latest research from Canada has found that regular use of even small amounts of over-the-counter painkillers can rapidly increase the risk of heart attack, but local experts suggest that the benefits can outweigh the risks in many cases. [ + ]

Reactions to the 2017–18 Budget, delivered on the evening of 9 May, seem to indicate that the federal government is taking a safe and steady approach to science this year. [ + ]

An international research team has found that primitive hominids lived in Africa at around the same time as early humans — a discovery that could have a significant impact on our knowledge of evolution. [ + ]

The European XFEL, the biggest X-ray laser in the world, has reached the last major milestone before its official opening in September — the generation of its first X-ray laser light. [ + ]

Researchers from Monash University have "answered one of the biggest questions in autoimmune disease" by determining the mechanism underlying the key genetic risk factors that lead to a raft of autoimmune diseases including: Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis, type 1 diabetes, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis and various forms of kidney disease. [ + ]