The centre of gravity of Australian brain stem cell research has undergone a major shift with a change of residence by star researcher Prof Perry Bartlett and a large number of his team. [ + ]

A Singapore government decision to award a major grant to a subsidiary of Australian listed biotech Agenix is being labelled a "great vote of confidence" by Agenix CEO Don Home. [ + ]

The stem cell debate is likely to reach new levels of intensity in the wake of the vote splitting legislation permitting embryonic stem cell research from a bill outlawing human cloning. [ + ]

Leading scientists came out today in support of beleaguered Stem Cell Centre of Excellence CEO Prof Alan Trounson, and urged the Federal government to pass the Stem Cell Bill, which is expected to go to a vote in the House of Representatives later today. [ + ]

Australian peptide maker Auspep is looking for funds to finance its growth on the back of a market that is jagging upward. [ + ]

Marshall Edwards Inc (MIE), a subsidiary of Australian pharma Novogen, has announced an agreement with Yale University's Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology that will allow the Yale researchers to take the company's anti-cancer drug phenoxodiol into clinical trials for ovarian cancer. [ + ]

A new class of "privacy guardians" for genetic research databases and new laws requiring private sector researchers to conform to public sector ethical guidelines are two likely outcomes of a major Australian inquiry into the protection of genetic information. [ + ]

The discovery of a gene that links type 2 diabetes and heart disease could lead to the development of new therapeutic treatments for diabetes, according to Victorian biotech Autogen. [ + ]

Adelaide biotech GroPep has blamed the Sydney operations it took over when it acquired Biotech Australia earlier this year for most of the $6.89m loss it sustained in the 2001-02 financial year. [ + ]

WA-headquartered Australian Cancer Technology has accelerated its breast cancer therapeutic program after reporting good first-stage results. [ + ]

Sixteen National Health and Medical Research Council program grants worth more than $118 million have been awarded to research teams at some of Australia's top research institutions. [ + ]

The National Health and Medical Research Council has awarded more than $5 million to 15 researchers seeking to commercialise their discoveries, in the first round of its new development grant scheme. [ + ]

Hong Kong's Cheong Kong Holdings-backed biotech venture CK Life Sciences is yet to decide which state will house its Australian operations, the company said on Tuesday, as it weighs up offers from some very determined suitors. [ + ]

The Australian Stock Exchange is poised to take an active role in the development of a healthy public biotech sector in Australia. [ + ]

Metabolic Pharmaceuticals has achieved another milestone in its development of a weight-loss drug after demonstrating that its obesity drug AOD 9604 is active after oral administration to human patients. [ + ]