A young biotech that is developing technology to improve racehorse performance is easily outpacing the field when it comes to attracting development funding. [ + ]

Listed company BioProspect has signed a pact with a second major drug developer interested in testing its library of compounds extracted from Australian plants. [ + ]

CSIRO is losing the services of one of the country's premier biostatisticians, Dr Mervyn Thomas, who is leaving to launch his own consultancy in the private sector. [ + ]

Researchers, funded by Meditech, at Curtin University of Technology in Perth have identified carbohydrate compounds that specifically bind to proteins involved in asthma, atopic dermatitis and other inflammatory responses. [ + ]

Singapore-based stem cell company ES Cell International (ESI) has acquired patent rights to technology relating to the transformation of stem cells into insulin-producing cells from US company Curis. [ + ]

A number of listed biotechs named by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) as facing potential solvency problems are crying foul. [ + ]

A group which explores the living world for fresh ideas about how to design and manage organisations has been launched.

As a desperate measure to keep alive elite dairy and beef cattle herds suffering in one of the worst droughts of the past century, Australia's livestock industries are moving to ship in maize from the US. [ + ]

Genetraks, a start-up biotech developing blood tests for use in pre-race evaluation of animals such as racehorses, has received a $6 million injection of venture capital. [ + ]

Indigenous people's understandings of weather patterns are being recorded as part of a cooperative new project between Monash University and the Bureau of Meteorology. The findings of the project could provide insight into surviving Australia's harsh climate.

Sydney biotech company Psiron has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Canon, providing the Japanese company with exclusive worldwide rights to the Vapotronics inhaled drug delivery system in return for an up-front payment of $US1 million and potentially substantial royalties. [ + ]

Bionic ear company Cochlear has set up a scholarship to encourage recipients of its cochlear implants to go on to tertiary education. [ + ]

Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research is collaborating with gene silencing specialist Benitec to probe the role of specific genes in type 2 diabetes. [ + ]

Perth biotech Q-Vis Ltd is in the hands of administrators Ferrier Hodgson after coming up empty-handed from a six-month search for a strategic partner with deep pockets. [ + ]

A company formed to commercialise technology developed in Queensland to treat pain and control bleeding has secured a $10 million investment deal.