Qiagen, a provider of sample and assay technologies, has entered into a master collaboration agreement with Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis. The collaboration will enable the development and commercialisation of companion diagnostics to be paired with existing Novartis pharmaceutical products as well as compounds in its development pipeline. [ + ]

AusPat, IP Australia's search system for Australian patents, has been revamped. The new design has taken over a year of planning, designing and testing, with changes based on user research and customer engagement. [ + ]

A key element of the Industry Innovation and Competitiveness Agenda has begun consultation, with the Australian Government releasing the discussion paper 'Boosting the Commercial Returns from Research'.

The 2014 Australian Institute of Non Destructive Testing (AINDT) Conference will provide an opportunity for maintenance and quality-assurance professionals to learn more about non-destructive testing and related technologies from AINDT members. [ + ]

Former EMA chief Dr Thomas Lönngren has joined the board of Global Kinetics, to help the company commercialise its Parkinson's symptom monitoring device.

Viralytics (ASX:VLA) said preclinical data suggests that its Cavatak anticancer candidate performs better when combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors.

The Horizon Scholarship offers students studying agriculture-related university degrees $5000 a year.

An international research team has claimed that the Higgs boson particle, discovered in CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2012, could be something else entirely. [ + ]

Patrys (ASX:PAB) has advised that complications in the manufacturing process are likely to delay the commencement of a planned trial of PAT-SM6 in multiple myeloma until 2Q15.

Regulating beta cell stress provides a potential new approach to treating diabetes. [ + ]

Scientists from regenerative medicine company Orthocell have succeeded in growing human tendons in a laboratory for the first time. In a collaboration with the University of Western Australia, Curtin University, Griffith University and the University of Auckland, the researchers used a bioreactor to grow the functonal human tendons. [ + ]

Researchers have developed a test that can distinguish between birds that have been vaccinated against the H5N1 strain of avian influenza virus (bird flu) with those that have been naturally infected. [ + ]

Prima BioMed's (ASX:PRR) CVac candidate is demonstrating a clear trend in improved overall survival in patients with second remission ovarian cancer.

A critical mass of Australian leaders will set their collective mind to support Australia's future manufacturing industry at a summit next week in Sydney.

The 2015 Australian Research Council (ARC) Major Grants have been announced with $354 million distributed to 941 new research projects. [ + ]