The new Ian Potter Foundation Centre for Cancer Genomics and Predictive Medicine was opened today at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute by Victorian Innovation Minister John Brumby. [ + ]

Sydney biotechnology company EvoGenix has been granted a key patent for its proprietary EvoGene technology in the US. [ + ]

A young researcher in the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at UNSW has won the Outstanding New Researcher's Award for 2003 from the UK-based Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB). Dr Rob Brooks, 32, will travel to Leeds in April to accept the award, which is given for excellence in research on animal behaviour which "will shape the future of [the] discipline".

VRI BioMedical's OncoAlert diagnostic test has performed well in a clinical study examining the test's ability to diagnose Helicobacter pylori infections. [ + ]

Melbourne-based Prima Biomed has taken the unusual step of forming a strategic alliance with legal firm Blake Dawson Waldron's patent services group to manage its entire patent portfolio, which includes 26 granted patents and 44 patent applications at various stages. [ + ]

Australia's cotton farmers are following a trend in the US industry to adopt conservation tillage practices as herbicide-tolerant cotton varieties revolutionise weed control. [ + ]

The share market's habit of batting listed biotech companies around like ping pong balls can leave senior management shell-shocked. Share prices of companies in the drug development, healthcare, diagnostics and medical devices soar on the updraft of a promising licensing agreement or plunge at the twitch of a regulator's eyebrow. [ + ]

A Melbourne-Philadelphia research team has provided a graphic demonstration of the power of genomics and bioinformatics by identifying a host of prospective drug targets in the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. [ + ]

The Victorian branch of AusBiotech has been given a $AUD96,000 boost by the Victorian Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development (IIRD), allowing it to appoint a full-time dedicated project officer to coordinate the activities of the state branch. [ + ]

Australian biotech companies can learn a lot by including external and independent non-executive directors with relevant commercial experience on the board of directors, according to David Collingham, founder of European life sciences recruitment firm Ruston Poole. [ + ]

Quadrupled throughput capacity at the Queensland Parallel Supercomputer Foundation (QPSF) is part of an upsurge in high-performance computing resources becoming available to life science-oriented researchers. [ + ]

Stem cell-based regenerative medicine company ES Cell International (ESI) has licensed cutting-edge US technology to speed its path to the commercialisation of a diabetes cell replacement therapy. [ + ]

Australia's first synchrotron would be twice as powerful as originally proposed, the Victorian state government announced yesterday. [ + ]

Scientists from Imperial College London and Cambridge University have developed a rapid, less invasive and low-cost blood test which may help predict the likelihood of a heart attack.

Drug delivery company Acrux is branching out into novel territory with its investee company Cosmeceutic Solutions, a US-based operation set up last year to develop skin care products for the global cosmetics industry based on the company's proprietary Across enhancers. [ + ]