The seventh patient has been implanted with Ventracor's (ASX:VCR) VentrAssist left ventricular assistance device as part of the company's pilot trial at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. [ + ]

In 1967, Gosford reptile expert Athol Compton suffered a shallow, grazing bite to his thumb while attempting to capture an unfamiliar, large light brown snake with a dark head in Corner Country, in far southwest Queensland. [ + ]

Melbourne biotechnology company BioDiem Limited (ASX:BDM) has reported promising results from the first field trial of its BDM-I antimicrobial as a poultry feed additive. [ + ]

Brisbane oncology drug developer Progen Industries (ASX:PGL, NASDAQ:PGLAF) today announced it has begun the fourth and largest Phase II clinical trial of its lead anti-cancer drug PI-88 in patients who have undergone surgery for primary liver cancer. [ + ]

ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals (formerly AGT Biosciences; ASX: CXS) has raised AUD$6.2 million through a 15 per cent placement to existing and new shareholders at $0.48 per share, a discount of almost 15 per cent to yesterday's closing price of $0.56. [ + ]

Sydney-based biotech Psiron (ASX:PXS) is putting its house in order -- having announced its intention to license oncolytic enteroviruses technology from University of Newcastle alumnus Virotarg, the company today said the license would trigger an AUD$2.5 million capital raising. [ + ]

Using international DNA databases, a University of Melbourne PhD student has discovered a variety of previously anonymous bacteria in the mammalian gut that may explain why live oral vaccines against bacterial diseases like typhoid fever often produce erratic results. [ + ]

The use of Drosophila fruit flies as a model for human neurodegenerative disease has led to the insight that molecular chaperones, such as heat shock proteins, may play a common role in the development of these diseases, says the University of Pennsylvania's Assoc Prof Nancy Bonini, in Australia this week for the Genetics Society of Australia's annual conference in Melbourne. [ + ]

Canberra and San Diego-based Phenomix has signed a multi-year collaboration agreement with Genentech to identify and prioritise drug target for immune disorders. [ + ]

A $20 million grant to the Western Australian Energy Alliance (WA ERA) under the State Government's major research facilities program will be a critical part of Western Australia's future development, Premier Geoff Gallop said recently.

Two Perth-based biotechs have made key executive appointments. [ + ]

The head of a new advisory committee for the Australian synchrotron has urged industry to make sure it could get maximum use of the new Australian synchrotron. [ + ]

Researchers at the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth are hoping to persuade big pharma to test therapeutics targeting specific inflammatory response effector molecules in young children at risk of developing persistent asthma. [ + ]

Monash University Department of Surgery staff have made history by performing the first robotic heart operations in the southern hemisphere.

Its name and design may seem better suited to a science fiction movie but the Aquanator could become the way of the future for power generation.