The Institute of Drug Technology (ASX: IDT) has scored a multi-million dollar contract with Pfizer to develop and manufacture a new drug candidate. [ + ]

Brisbane-based Benitec (ASX: BLT) has granted a non-exclusive research licence to Merck & Co, giving permission for Merck to use its DNA-directed RNAi (ddRNAi) technology in research activities. [ + ]

Adelaide epilepsy specialist Bionomics (ASX:BNO) has announced that its patent covering a link between the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor ion channel subunit and epilepsy has been accepted in New Zealand. [ + ]

Scottish cancer specialist Cyclacel has announced plans to float on Nasdaq and the London Stock Exchange. [ + ]

Australia's efforts to reverse dryland salinity have received a boost with the development of a granular inoculant that helps wattles establish up to five times faster than normal.

Scientists at the Australian National University (ANU) have identified the immune response that determines why some mice are infected with mousepox and others are not, a discovery that could lead to better protection for humans in a bio-terror attack. [ + ]

Norwood Immunology (AIM:NIM) commenced trading yesterday on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM), with shares closing at 40.5 pence (AUD$1.046), a premium to their issue price of 38 pence. [ + ]

In this financial year's upcoming crop of annual reports, ASX-listed companies will have to include a section disclosing their adherence to the 10 essential corporate governance principles developed in 2002 by the exchange's corporate governance council as a framework for best practice. [ + ]

The Australian Synchrotron project has scored another AUD$5 million funding for the initial suite of beamlines from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), which joins the University of Melbourne, Monash University, CSIRO and MiniFAB as a foundation partner. [ + ]

Sydney artificial heart company Ventracor (ASX:VCR) scooped up AUD$1.2 million in funding today, when the second round of Australian Research Council (ARC) linkage grants were announced. [ + ]

Dr Lisa McIntyre, the head of LEK Consulting's Asia-Pacific life sciences practice, has joined the board of Sydney-based pooled development fund BioTech Capital (ASX:BTC). [ + ]

It has taken 15 years, but Australian company Florigene and its Japanese parent Suntory say they have succeeded in creating the holy grail of floristry -- the blue rose. [ + ]

Amrad (ASX:AML) has halted its share buy-back program while it readies itself to spin out its anti-infectives program. [ + ]

The first recordings of the brain’s smallest cells at work, sensing the outside world, have been made by scientists at University College London (UCL). Their findings could help unlock the secrets of the cerebellum, a key motor control centre in the brain which, when damaged, can lead to movement disorders such as ataxia and loss of balance.

Sydney's Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute will get new digs, the Garvan Institute will get its building back, and both will be sharing café and confocal microscopy facilities with researchers from over the road at St Vincent's Hospital, if a $46 million new laboratory building gets underway. [ + ]