Shares in drug discovery company Autogen rose more than 15 per cent today after the company announced that nine new genes involved in diabetes and obesity were affected by exercise. [ + ]

A 15 per cent staff cut at Sydney-based listed biotech Gradipore has been given an enthusiastic tick of approval by investors. [ + ]

Scientists at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney have succeeded in creating new brain cells in mice, using adult stem cells, in a move which has the potential to eliminate some effects of multiple sclerosis (MS) and related illnesses.

Brisbane biotech Progen Industries has reinforced the already significant contribution of its contract drug manufacturing arm by signing an agreement with US-based Sequella. [ + ]

Researchers at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital have found for the first time that adult stem cells can be differentiated into the white matter forming cells of the brain, the oligodendrocytes. [ + ]

A proposal for an Australian-based Kangaroo Genome Project has missed out on the latest round of Australian Research Council Research Centres of Excellence Grants, announced late last month. [ + ]

Fulfilling a promise made to shareholders at its annual general meeting in November, Adelaide-based >GroPep has ended 2002 free of debt and with $AUD5.6 million cash in the bank, newly hired CFO Tony Mitchell said today. [ + ]

Australia will join 20 other nations in a $1 billion, 10-year, global effort to assess the status of marine life worldwide.

A University of Queensland team at the Princess Alexandra Hospital is believed to be the first in the world to find a mechanism to turn off an auto-immune disease, once it has started.

Researchers from Monash and Melbourne Universities investigating the immune response toward the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) have used crystallographic techniques to visualise the shape of the T-cell receptor that specifically prevents the virus from wreaking havoc. [ + ]

Drug developer Amrad is to sell its 4.7 hectare campus in the prime inner city location of Richmond, in Melbourne. [ + ]

Creditors of comatose Avax Group put the would-be cancer vaccine distributor into liquidation on Tuesday, making it the second biotech to exit the scene in as many months. [ + ]

Perth cancer therapeutic developer Australian Cancer Technology has engaged Intersuisse Corporate to advise it on a strategy for commercialising its Pentrix anti-cancer vaccine. [ + ]

Nine months of waiting with bated breath ended this week when Norwood Abbey finally received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to begin marketing its laser-assisted drug delivery device as a means to quickly and efficiently deliver local anaesthetic to the skin. [ + ]

As the new year begins, market analysts are sounding the same warnings that they did in 2002 -- that Australian biotechnology companies must consider strategies like mergers and acquisitions and alliances to survive. [ + ]