The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) will have a new chief executive as of January 2015 - international technology innovator Dr Larry Marshall. [ + ]

Dutch biotech MIMETAS has raised $5.2 million to fund its expansion as a global leader in organ-on-a-chip technology. [ + ]

CSL (ASX:CSL) has announced a $210m upgrade of its Melbourne plasma manufacturing plant to add the capacity to produce albumin.

Australian secondary school students have helped reveal strange, jittery behaviour in the pulsar PSR J1717-4054, located around 15,000 light years away in the direction of the constellation of Scorpius, as part of the PULSE@Parkes program. [ + ]

The Australian Government has made 100 years of intellectual property (IP) rights data available online. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Bob Baldwin, said the world-first move will help companies find each other more quickly to collaborate, build their product and get it to market. [ + ]

Researchers from the University of Leicester, in collaboration with electrophoresis company Cleaver Scientific, have developed a high-throughput method of performing the Comet Assay - a sensitive technique for the detection of DNA damage in individual cells. [ + ]

Researchers at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) have found a new, low-cost way to enhance detection capacity of small concentrations of rotavirus - a sphere-shaped virus up to 75 nm in diameter that has the appearance of a wheel, seen from an electron microscope. [ + ]

With more than 332,000 Australians currently living with dementia and this figure expected to increase to 400,000 in less than a decade, AusBiotech will hold a free public forum with Australia's leading experts discussing what the future holds for the treatment and prevention of dementias and Alzheimer's and the supports available for those affected.

Antara Lifesciences (ASX:ANR) will use the proceeds from its recent IPO to help commercialise non-antibiotic diarrhoea treatment Detach in livestock animals and develop a version for humans.

A new mathematical method provides a more efficient way to mine and analyse genetic data. [ + ]

Lab equipment distributor LabFriend has announced the Live Chat feature on the company's website - the main communication portal between LabFriend and its clients. The portal offers live support, whether users need help finding something or are simply having trouble navigating the 30,000 products available. [ + ]

Genera Biosystems has announced a business collaboration with Beckman Coulter Lifesciences for molecular diagnostics assays and promoted director Richard Hannebery to the post of CEO.

Starpharma (ASX:SPL) and partner Ansell (ASX:ANN) have registered their VivaGel coated condom on the ARTG and plan to launch the product in Australia this month.

A $28.8 million program, designed by CSIRO and funded by the BHB Billiton Foundation, has been launched to increase interest and achievement among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). [ + ]

A collaboration between researchers, Indigenous communities and landholders to better manage fire in landscapes is helping reverse the decline of native mammals in northern Australia. [ + ]