EpiTan has received approval from the ethics committee at the Royal Adelaide Hospital to conduct part of its phase IIb clinical trial there for its melanin-producing drug Melanotan. [ + ]

Flinders University spin-off Flinders Bioremediation is continuing to expand its business operations despite the recent loss of founder and managing director Dr Nick McClure, who passed away in September. [ + ]

Cancer research is all hard slog, a long journey of many small steps, punctuated all too rarely by a genuine leap forward -- like the one announced today by CSL and its partner, pharma giant Merck and Co. [ + ]

Starpharma has been granted a third broad US patent for its dendrimer technology, covering applications for anti-microbial and anti-parasitic compositions. [ + ]

Sirtex Medical is on track to achieve its goal of rolling out its SIR-Spheres cancer treatment in ten US hospitals by the end of the year, according to CEO Colin Sutton, with the ninth centre at Emory University Hospital treating its first two patients last week. [ + ]

A Monash University researcher is helping improve forecasting and our understanding of weather patterns by using global positioning system (GPS) satellites to measure water vapour in the atmosphere.

Prof Peter Darvall has resigned from his board position at Melbourne drug discovery company Metabolic Pharmaceuticals due to his commitments as vice-chancellor of Monash University. [ + ]

Research which aims to make laboratory-grown leukaemia cells change form and used to prime a patient's immune system to kill malignant cells has begun in Edinburgh, Scotland. If successful, the project could give clinicians a way of destroying residual leukaemic cells which are undetectable by microscope.

The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) has appointed eminent American parasitologist Prof Michael Wallach as director of its new Institute for the Biotechnology of Infectious Diseases. [ + ]

A new array of ocean robots has begun working deep in the Indian Ocean to help scientists understand Australia's changing climate.

Melbourne-based Metabolic Pharmaceuticals has begun a Phase IIA clinical trial for its obesity drug AOD9604 to investigate safety of daily dosing in preparation for the Phase IIB weight reduction study scheduled for next year. [ + ]

Encouraging results are flowing for Australian researchers using computer graphics to find inhibitors of a protein that plays a pivotal role in the life cycle of the parasite that causes malaria. [ + ]

Adelaide biotechnology company BresaGen has fitted the keystone into the archway of its ambition to be a substantial player in embryonic stem cell (ES cell) therapy, by acquiring valuable patents on the methodology for isolating pluripotent stem cells. [ + ]

Melbourne's Bio21 project looks to be back on track with a restructured board, a newly approved business plan and orders in for some key new equipment. [ + ]

How does a soybean plant's leaves communicate with its roots, hidden beneath the ground? [ + ]