The Australian Institute of Political Science has presented Prof Colin Masters with the 2002 Mayne Florey Medal, recognising his world-leading research into the cause of Alzheimer's disease and other brain diseases of the elderly. [ + ]

Vision Systems ASX: VSL) has surprised the market by buying a UK biochemical manufacturer outright. [ + ]

Consumer sensitivities over genetically modified foods are forcing biotech researchers in Australia's sugar industry to walk a tightrope. [ + ]

Researchers at the University of Southern Queensland's Centre for Rural and Environmental Biotechnology are expanding major research and development projects for improved wheat crops in Australia and China.

Monash University has appointed Australia's first Professor of X-ray and Synchrotron Physics to build a research base for the National Synchrotron Project. [ + ]

The task of creating specialised software tools to decipher the complexities of genes and proteins until recently has been a do-it-yourself project for the bio-research community. [ + ]

Biotechnology is making room for itself at the high table of Australia's scientific-industrial community, judging from the number of biotech-centric applications in the latest round of Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) funding. [ + ]

Caroline Kovac, the US-based business leader of IBM's Life Sciences division, says Australian biotechnology should remember it is playing in a global market and consider its strengths, including a good education system and strong scientific base. [ + ]

The latest gilt-edged donation to Queensland from a charity founded by US businessman Charles Feeney will kickstart construction on a $70 million Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation. [ + ]

Hearing impaired Australians should have access to free cochlear implant processor upgrades, according to a Labor MP. [ + ]

The Victorian Government's Science, Technology and Innovation division has advertised five newly created roles as it works towards implementation of its Biotechnology Strategic Development Plan. [ + ]

A million-dollar grant from GlaxoSmithKline has allowed the Institute of Respiratory Medicine to set up a scientist exchange program to allow Australian scientists to travel and work overseas and to bring international scientists to work at the institute. [ + ]

University of Adelaide's new vice-chancellor, Prof James McWha, is a plant biologist with plans to strengthen the university's already large contributions to research and development. [ + ]

An Australian researcher at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) has solved the medical mystery of the death of an East Timorese man from what appeared to be poisoning in late 2000. [ + ]

A survey of 7500 Australians on the issue of when an embryo is considered to be human has shown that most people do not believe a human is created at conception. [ + ]