Walter and Eliza Hall Institute spin-out Genera Biosystems has appointed a new chief executive officer to spearhead partnership opportunities in the United States. [ + ]

Victoria has cemented its reputation as Australia's biotechnology and bioscience industry leader, which was initiated with the introduction of the smallpox vaccine 80 years ago, a report has found. [ + ]

One of the rare biotech companies with origins in rural Australia, Plasvacc Pty Ltd, is dropping its low-key strategy and moving into fast-track expansion mode. [ + ]

Marshall Edwards Inc, a listed subsidiary of Australian pharma Novogen, has signed a cooperative agreement with a National Institutes of Health agency in the United States to examine clinical applications for its anti-cancer compound, phenoxodiol. [ + ]

A research team at Flinders University in South Australia is collaborating with biopharmaceutical company Elan Pharmaceuticals on a project investigating Parkinson's disease. [ + ]

Victoria's government unveiled its second round of Science, Technology and Innovation Grants today, with almost $60 million being poured into mostly biotechnology projects. [ + ]

An Australian agbiotech company has been named as a finalist in this year's World Technology Awards for its excellence in wheat transformation. [ + ]

Australia's best-known stem cell scientist has asked that researchers hold off lobbying for therapeutic cloning in order to cement the concessions granted by the Prime Minister so far. [ + ]

Australian biological researchers aren't responding in hoped-for numbers to offers of access at bargain basement rates to US company Celera Genomics' genome databases. [ + ]

Industry organisation AusBiotech is to set up a working group to deliver the recommendations of a pre-clinical development meeting held in Melbourne this week. [ + ]

Researchers at CSIRO Plant Industry have used the publicly available rice genome sequence to isolate the semi-dwarfing gene in varieties responsible for the 'green revolution' and develop 'perfect' markers for it. [ + ]

Adelaide-based company BresaGen and British Biotech have ended a collaboration to develop GM-CSF antagonist E21R, after fresh tests failed to confirm previous assessments of its commercial prospects. [ + ]

Enzymes, nature's natural catalysts that speed the chemical reactions of life in all living cells, are already widely used in the food and other industries.

A group based at the University of Technology, Sydney, has developed a unique method of processing coral, which may allow it to be used in orthopaedic implants. [ + ]

Hour-long waits for results from gene and protein database searches that now take a few minutes could become reality within a few years, according to a search engine expert. [ + ]