The NSW government has named a team responsible for reviewing the state's overall medical and health research program. [ + ]

WA based Clinical Cell Culture (C3) has signed a deal with US company Ventrex to manufacture the company’s ReCell autologous skin harvesting device, primarily for the plastic and cosmetic surgery markets. [ + ]

Starpharma has been given the all-clear from the US FDA to begin clinical trials on their dendrimer-based microcidal gel for prevention of HIV infection. [ + ]

Adelaide-based company BresaGen only has enough cash to last until December, according to figures released by the company today. [ + ]

ASX-listed Axon Instruments has picked up an R&D 100 award for its OpusExpress 6000A electrophysiology workstation. [ + ]

The Swiss-based Serono Foundation has awarded a US$90,000 postgraduate fellowship grant to an ex-Melbourne Uni PhD to pursue research into cancer biology. [ + ]

Sydney University PhD candidate Marc Buhler believes he has tracked down the source of an inherited shield against AIDS, an allele of the CCR5 chemokine receptor, which is shared by many people of Jewish and Viking ancestral origins.

A $100 million international project to sequence the bovine genome is being launched following an intensive lobbying effort in which CSIRO played a key role. [ + ]

NSW's University of New England (UNE) is to offer a course in bioinformatics next year, in recognition of the increased importance of the field for both mathematicians and biologists. [ + ]

A new report by New Zealand's National Animal Ethics Advisory Committee (NAEAC) indicates that NZ researchers are now less inclined to reach for the rodent than in previous years, with a 17 per cent drop in the number of animals being used for research, testing or teaching last year. [ + ]

The University of Sydney has become the first research institution in Australia to be granted a non-exclusive research licence by Genetic Technologies (GTG) to use its controversial non-coding DNA patents. [ + ]

Researchers at Biotron have filed a patent covering the blocking of specific ion channel activity formed within the E protein of the SARS virus, offering a potentially new treatment for the disease. [ + ]

If Australia is to keep up with the rest of the world, it will have to make more of its public research institutes. According to a report jointly compiled by Ernst & Young and RMIT University, Australia's R&D performance needs boosting -- and the best way is to increase cooperation between public and private bodies. [ + ]

Pooled development fund Medica Holdings has completed a fund-raising trifecta for its stable of biotech investee companies. [ + ]

Earth and environmental scientists will be able to access data and build realistic models and simulations of earth processes across Australia without leaving their offices, say researchers organising an Australian workshop about a new paradigm in Internet technologies and computing.