Sydney medical technology company Sunshine Heart Ltd (ASX:SHC) has chosen cloudy Auckland as the venue for a long-term clinical trial that should gladden -- and reinforce -- the failing hearts of six patients. [ + ]

Cygenics (ASX: CYN) subsidiary Cytomatrix has entered into a collaboration with Cell Therapies, the commercial arm of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre's Centre for Blood Cell Therapies, to test the company's T cell production technology in human clinical trials. [ + ]

Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane has warned the Australian biotechnology industry that it still has a lot of work to do to win over the public. [ + ]

The drug-discovery industry -- pharma and biotech alike -- will suffer a sea-change as the age of personalised medicine begins, said Steve Burrill at Monday's opening of the 2004 AusBiotech conference in Brisbane. [ + ]

Researchers at University of Hamburg in Germany have provided a glimpse of the future of oilseed crops, by modifying the oil-synthesis pathways in flax to synthesise low levels of health-boosting omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in its seeds. [ + ]

Researchers at New Zealand's HortResearch Crown Research Institute are using insect smell receptors to develop biosensors that act as an artificial nose, capable of detecting volatile compounds. [ + ]

Hospitals don't like to divulge how many surgical patients have been chronically infected by pathogenic, multi-drug resistant bacteria that haunt their surgical wards, but the problem is "major", according to Michael Oredsson, CEO and MD of Sydney biotech company Biosignal (ASX:BOS). [ + ]

Australian and New Zealand scientists have launched a AUD$1.4 million study funded by industry group Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) to map the genome of the sheep blowfly Lucilia cuprina, in a bid to better control and prevent flystrike in sheep. [ + ]

Some of the most contentious ethical issues such as face transplants, saviour siblings, as well as paternity and genetic testing will take centre stage at the World Congress of Bioethics being held at UNSW this month.

Gene silencing specialist Benitec (ASX:BLT) has raised AUD$2.75 million in a placement to institutions and 'sophisticated' investors in Australia and abroad, the company said today. [ + ]

Brisbane cancer-drug developer Peplin (ASX:PEP) has announced a renounceable rights offer to shareholders aimed at raising AUD$10.2 million for the first Phase II clinical trial of its lead skin-cancer molecule, PEP005. [ + ]

Epilepsy gene-hunter Bionomics (ASX:BNO) has announced a strategic alliance with gene-test specialist Genetic Technologies (ASX:GTG) under which GTG will market Bionomics' epilepsy tests worldwide. [ + ]

Cancer technology specialist Sirtex (ASX:SRX) has firmed new distribution deals in Israel and India for its targeted radioactive particle liver cancer treatment, SIR-Spheres, which has recently won regulatory approval in both markets. [ + ]

The Australian biotech sector's cash reserves totalled nearly three quarters of a billion dollars at the end of the 2003-2004 financial year, according to a report by biotech investment newsletter Bioshares. [ + ]

A study of 18 type 1 diabetes patients transplanted with insulin-secreting pancreatic islet cells from pigs more than a decade ago appears to have cleared away a major obstacle to transplanting pig cells, tissues and organs into seriously ill human patients. [ + ]