Vinlife, a natural antioxidant, grapeseed extract and functional food ingredient developed by the Barossa-based Tarac Technologies, was recently found by the CSIRO to have a positive benefit for aspects of heart health when incorporated in food.

Melbourne nano-biotech company Starpharma Pooled Development (ASX:SPL) announced today that tests in the US have shown that its lead compound, a intravaginal gel developed to protect against sexually transmitted diseases, is completely effective in warding off an HIV-like retrovirus infection in macaque monkeys. [ + ]

Prima BioMed (ASX:PRR) subsidiary Oncomab has entered into a joint venture with US humanised antibody company Medarex to co-develop and commercialise fully human antibodies for the treatment of cancer. [ + ]

Sydney-based Brain Resource Company (BRC) has signed a business partner deal with IBM to tie up its innovative Integ Neuro series of cognitive performance tests to IBM's integrated Countertop kiosk input devices. [ + ]

Autogen has signed two more commercialisation and licensing deals with partner Merck-Sante for genes related to diabetes and obesity, bringing to four the number of gene targets selected for fast-tracked development by Merck. [ + ]

New drugs, 'green' chemicals, more productive animals and superior crops are just some of the outcomes expected from Australia's largest dedicated bioinformatics computer cluster launched by the Minister for Science, the Hon Peter McGauran MP.

The soft IPO market in the US could be advantageous to Australian biotech companies seeking to raise their profile in the US, Nasdaq Asia-Pacific VP Patrick Sutch told an audience of biotech CEOs in Melbourne today. [ + ]

Scientists at the National Centres for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, are working "around the clock" in collaboration with World Health Organisation researchers and international disease reference laboratories to identify the infectious agent responsible for an outbreak of a potentially deadly respiratory disease in south-east Asia. [ + ]

In a flurry of recent announcements, ex-Pfizer scientific director Kevin Fahey has been appointed to the boards of three local set-ups. [ + ]

An international team of astronomy researchers led by Swinburne University of Technology's Professor Duncan Forbes and Dr Mike Beasley, have been awarded seven nights of observation time on the Gemini North telescope in Hawaii - worth around $1 million.

International health authorities have gone on high alert as more reports emerge from south-east Asian countries of deaths and illness caused by an unidentified, potentially lethal pneumonia-like infection dubbed Hong Kong severe acute respiratory syndrome. [ + ]

The American Academy of Neurology has given its 2003 Potamkin Award for research into Alzheimer's disease to Dr Ashley Bush, co-founder of Melbourne biotechnology company Prana Biotechnology (ASX: PBT). [ + ]

The Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and the University of Adelaide are to extend their collaborative research efforts with the recent announcement of the establishment of a Chair in Photonics and Chair in Microwave Radar at the university.

A research team has created a computer model device that could help to reduce car crash injuries. The device - a collapsing spring fitted between the seat and the floor pan of the car - absorbs most of the impact in a motoring accident without bouncing back and thereby reduces the severity of whiplash injury.

Pioneering materials research could ensure that consumers' electricity bills stay as low as possible in the future. The investigation is taking place at Loughborough University in the English Midlands.