Dramatic board changes have been proposed at Sydney device company Polartechnics (ASX:PLT). [ + ]

When it was cloned in 1991, the sex-determining region, Y-chromosome (SRY) gene was hailed as the elusive 'master switch' that sets an genetically male embryo on the path to male development. But it is now clear that SRY is just the finger that flicks the real switch to 'male'. It's the transcription factor gene SOX9 that causes the embryo's indeterminate gonads to develop as testes, not ovaries [ + ]

An international study led by Australia's National Institute of Schizophrenia and Associated Disorders (NISAD) has shown, for the first time, that cognitive abnormalities in schizophrenia map closely to structural abnormalities in the brain. [ + ]

Norwood Immunology (AIM:NIM) CEO Richard Williams is planning a busy year. Along with an Australian trial of GnRH analogue in bone marrow transplant patients, the company is gearing up for preclinical trials Lupron's ability to induce tolerance to donor cells prior to transplantation. [ + ]

Glass Expansion has announced that its full range of products for ICP-AES and ICP-MS may now be purchased online through its website at www.geicp.com.

Tiny nematode worms that get 'legless' more rapidly than their peers when they ingest alcohol have led a San Franciso team to the gene that is the major determinant of susceptibility to alcoholism in worms -- and probably in humans as well. [ + ]

Brisbane's Agenix [ASX:AGX, NASDAQ OTC:AGXLY] has sold its loss-making Milton Pharmaceuticals subsidiary to an unnamed buyer. [ + ]

Metabolic Pharmaceuticals (ASX:MBP) has reported a half-year after-tax loss of AUD$6.3, up from $4.2 million in the corresponding period in 2003. That included $6.1 million of expenditure on research and development, up from $5.0 million in 2003. The company's statement of cash flows reveals it took a $500,000 stake in Neuren Pharmaceuticals' (ASX:NEU) IPO earlier this month. Metabolic has also contracted Neuren to conduct in vitro experiments to provide supporting data on the biochemistry of its growth hormone obesity drug AOD9604. [ + ]

Mayne Group will book a AUD$5 million one-off charge in its first-half results after a UK appeal court ruled its version of the cancer drug epirubicin infringed a patent on the original drug. [ + ]

With considerable help from Affymetrix offshoot Perlegen Sciences, the International HapMap Consortium has announced it will build a more detailed map of human genomic variation than originally anticipated. [ + ]

Melbourne-based business development and seed finance group Biocomm Services has broadened its reach internationally with the announcement that Tokyo biotech company Locomogene would be the company's first Japanese client. [ + ]

Just over half a million in undelivered grant funding has left a hole in Alchemia's (ASX:ACL) accounts, with the company announcing a net loss after tax for the half-year of AUD$4.6 million, compared to $2.7 million in the previous corresponding period. [ + ]

Sydney probiotics manufacturer VRI BioMedical has announced a deal with Australia's largest vegetarian food company, Sanitarium, to develop a range of health-promoting functional foods around its probiotic technology. [ + ]

Melbourne gene-testing company Genetic Technologies (ASX:GTG, US OTC:GNTLY) has still not resolved its patent-infringement dispute with US-based Applera Corporation, despite a second round of mediation. [ + ]

A senior Biotechnology Australia bureaucrat has been grilled in a senate estimates committee by conservative Tasmanian independent senator Brian Harradine about the federal agency's attitude towards human embryonic stem cells. [ + ]