Expressions of interest are being sought from Australian biotechnology companies interested in joining a trade mission to the United Kingdom and BioPartnering Europe 2004. [ + ]

Sydney-based proteomics pioneer Proteome Systems lodged a long-awaited prospectus for its initial public offering on the ASX with the Australian Securities and Investment Commission today. [ + ]

\Tissue Therapies (ASX: TIS) founder and chief scientist Dr Zee Upton has won the research scientist category for the Smart Women - Smart State awards in Queensland for her work in the area of wound healing and cell culture technologies. [ + ]

Prana Biotechnology’s (ASX:PBT, NASDAQ:PRAN ) new American CEO Jonas Alsenas began taking an interest in the company several years ago, when he felt the faint tremors of a paradigm shift in the Alzheimer’s disease research field. [ + ]

Australasia’s venture capital-starved biotechnology industries probably need a fairy godmother like Canada’s Foragen Technologies Management. [ + ]

The AUD$20 million flagship project of Tasmania's Intelligent Island initiative funded by the Australian Government and jointly managed with the state government -- the Tasinformatics Centre of Excellence at the University of Tasmania -- is due to get off the ground in the coming weeks, once final negotiations between the university and the state government have been completed. [ + ]

Chemeq (ASX: CMQ) has called a trading halt while it considers a proposal to raise equity funds to use as working capital and to expand its current production facility from 20 tonnes annual production capacity to 50 tonnes. [ + ]

Origin Capital, an unlisted pooled development fund set up by TSL Group's Ross Dobinson and Michael Naphtali, has raised AUD$6.5 million in private equity for investment into three biotech ventures. [ + ]

The early stage funding is out there, but would-be biotech companies need to demonstrate quality to get the cash, according to the people who hold the seed-funding purse strings. [ + ]

The US Food and Drug Administration has refused to approve a pacemaker-like device made by Houston-based Cyberonics to treat depression rejecting the advice of its own panel of experts. [ + ]

Two years after it was established, the NSW Agricultural Genomics Centre is showing its mettle, announcing the discovery of several DNA markers for genes conferring tolerance to aluminium toxicity. [ + ]

Stem cell company CyGenics (ASX: CYN) will collaborate with the Murdoch Children's Research Institute to perform clinical trials demonstrating that stem cells expanded from umbilical cord blood using CyGenics subsidiary Cytomatrix's proprietary cell growth scaffold retain full functionality and effectiveness. [ + ]

With almost no fanfare, Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) and Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) have joined forces to fund one of the largest and most significant projects in Australia’s history: a $30 million sheep genomics program. [ + ]

New Zealand will provide AUD$5 million towards the synchrotron beamlines, pushing beamline funding over $25 million - half of the $49 million required to set up the initial suite of beamlines. [ + ]

Xenome CEO Dr Tony Evans has stepped down as the company prepares to move into a new phase of development and activity with a focus on opportunities in the US. [ + ]