The Institute of Respiratory Medicine in Sydney has changed its name to the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research in honour of its founding director Prof Ann Woolcock AO. [ + ]

There's barely a week left for you to enter the inaugural Australian Biotechnology News awards, but the good news is that you still have time. [ + ]

Gentech, the Australian-designed technetium-99m radiopharmaceutical generator that was developed by ANSTO, is to be promoted internationally following its acceptance as part of the Australian Technology Showcase (ATS).

A research tool from CSIRO has the ability to make it easier to get information on research activities in Australia's research institutions, universities and government departments. [ + ]

An Australian company that designs super-efficient surfaces for biochip and microplate assay systems used in high throughput proteomics screening has touched off an avalanche of US interest. [ + ]

Adelaide-based biotech GroPep has named former Faulding Pharmaceuticals top brass Robert Finder as its new CEO. [ + ]

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. [ + ]