Researchers have discovered that by compressing sodium chloride (rock salt) under certain high-pressure conditions, they can trigger a process which was found to form new compounds - despite chemistry textbooks saying this is impossible. [ + ]

Allied Market Research (AMR) has released a market research report analysing current and future trends in the continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) market from 2012 to 2020. The report projects that the CGM market will reach $568.5 million by 2020 from its 2012 value of $194.8 million. [ + ]

Cornell University researchers have developed a new system which, when fitted over a smartphone, can be used to quickly and easily measure cholesterol levels. The method has been described in the journal Lab on a Chip. [ + ]

The Australian Government's Mid-year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO), released yesterday, redirected $103 million to funding research which, according to Minister for Education Christopher Pyne, will help researchers deliver outcomes that will have significant benefit to the nation through the Australian Research Council (ARC). [ + ]

With more clinicians and researchers coming to rely on genetic data in their quest to combat disease, Moscow start-up company iBinom has released the beta version of a cloud-based SaaS (software as a service) solution for NGS (next-generation-sequencing) data interpretation. [ + ]

WR Grace & Co has announced that the Australian Patent Office has granted a patent related to the company's Reveleris flash chromatography system. The patent concerns the use of evaporative light scattering detection (ELSD) with flash chromatography, which is a key component of the Reveleris flash chromatography system. [ + ]

Macquarie University researchers, leading an international collaboration, have invented of a new generation of nanocrystals called ‘τ-Dots’. These can be coded in the newly discovered optical dimension of time in addition to colours. [ + ]

Healthcare group Admedus (formerly Allied Healthcare) has signed a share purchase agreement to acquire an established manufacturing site from Genzyme Australasia, a Sanofi company. Admedus purchased the site to facilitate scaled-up production of its regenerative tissue product CardioCel. [ + ]

A team working at the SACLA X-ray Free-Electron Laser (XFEL) in Japan has succeeded in generating ultrabright two-colour X-ray laser pulses, for the first time in the hard X-ray region. [ + ]

As we head into Christmas and the New Year, the industry's ASX-listed market capitalisation sits just over $50 billion and there are signs that the IPO market is at last awakening from hibernation. The year has proven to be another solid period for the Australian biotechnology industry and for AusBiotech. During this time, AusBiotech was steadfast in its advocacy and active in its representation and support of the industry. [ + ]

Cambridge Consultants and Diagnostics For All are working together to demonstrate a mobile phone application that can read a simple test for whether a child has been immunised. [ + ]

As Christmas celebrations sneak around the corner, we write our final newsletter for the year. [ + ]

Avita Medical (ASX:AVH) has appointed interim replacements for its CEO and chairman and has started reviewing its remuneration policy following last month's 'first strike' vote. [ + ]

The Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) has accepted Bronchitol for use by the nation's National Health Service as an adjunct therapy in adult cystic fibrosis patients. [ + ]

Bowel cancer research has received a $15 million gift. [ + ]