Melbourne company Genetic Technologies (ASX:GTG) has added another large US company to its tally, with Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings -- otherwise known as LabCorp -- becoming the latest to license the company's non-coding DNA mapping and analysis patents. [ + ]

Canberra vaccine developer Vaxine has appointed Ted Stapinski, a 20-year veteran of Australia's space industry, as its new CEO. [ + ]

Recently floated Pharmaxis has filed its first half-year results, and according to CEO Alan Robertson, the company's performance is right on track with its predictions in last year's prospectus. [ + ]

A Queensland University microbiologist who led the World Health Organisation's response to last year's SARS outbreak says he is much more concerned about the potential of the new strain of avian influenza sweeping Asian poultry farms to cause a human influenza pandemic. [ + ]

Malaria is not just an abstraction for Kenyan researcher Lucy Ochola. As an infant, she contracted malaria, and survived. She was lucky -- in the western highlands of her homeland, infant mortality from malaria approaches 30 per cent. [ + ]

CSIRO Livestock Industries and its animal health spin-off Imugene have begun a joint research project to develop a vaccine to protect chickens against the deadly new strain of avian influenza devastating poultry farms in Asia. [ + ]

Industry body AusBiotech and its New Zealand counterpart, NZBio, are planning to work together on a number of projects this year to strengthen ties between the two countries and promote the capabilities of the region. [ + ]

The share price of AGT Biosciences leapt nearly 15 per cent today, after the company announced it had filed patent applications for a series of 10 proteins that are likely to be suitable targets for the development of over-the-counter products to combat obesity. [ + ]

Investors are from Mars and scientists are from Venus, according to one of the presenters at a biobusiness briefing in Melbourne this morning. [ + ]

Sydney-based medical waste equipment specialists MediVac (ASX:MDV) made its debut on the Australian Stock Exchange on Monday at AUD$0.30, 20 per cent above the IPO issue price of $0.25. [ + ]

Antisense Therapeutics (ASX:ANP) has presented preliminary data from a Phase I clinical trial for its antisense multiple sclerosis drug ATL1102 at the Australian Neuroscience Society's annual conference last week. [ + ]

Melbourne plant biotechnology company Hexima has applied to the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator to conduct a small field trial of transgenic cotton lines containing its novel protease-inhibitor genes. [ + ]

Brain tumours account for only two per cent of cancer deaths but they are the fourth most important type of tumour in terms of life years lost, as they disproportionately affect younger people. But according to Prof Andrew Kaye, at the University of Melbourne, the next decade will see major advances in treatments for brain tumours that could turn around the statistics and extend the lives of sufferers. [ + ]

Not all forms of dementia are the same, and researchers are starting to learn what distinguishes different forms of neurodegenerative dementias from each other. But one major problem remains -- most of the distinguishing pathological features of the diseases, such as protein accumulation and cell loss, can only be seen post mortem. [ + ]

The Australian Stock Exchange is working with a small group of biotechnology executives, analysts and investors to develop a draft proposal for reporting results and activities, similar to those in place for the mining and exploration sectors. [ + ]