The new year has dawned with news that biotechnology has become a "20-year overnight success", with The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald (4/1/14) reporting that "biotech has finally boomed". The article reported the array of successes of 2013, which included IPOs, four- to nine-fold surges in share prices for a number of companies, high-profile investors turning their attention to biotech and a steady flow of capital raisings that totalled $739.1 million (Biotech Daily, 2/1/14), the highest amount since 2007. [ + ]

The Australian listed biotech sector handily outperformed both the All Ordinaries and the Health Care Index last year, analysis from Bioscience Managers shows. [ + ]

Professor Martin Pera, Program Leader of the ARC-supported national research consortium Stem Cells Australia, reflects on his involvement in the discovery of human embryonic stem cells and where the research field is at today. [ + ]

Researchers from the University of Warwick in the UK and York University in Canada have created a molecular communications system which can be used for the transmission of messages and data in challenging environments. [ + ]

The NSW Ministry of Health will soon start taking applications for the second round of a $5m per year grant program for medical device companies. [ + ]

Researchers have noted that the villains of fantasy literature have a tendency to dwell in darkness and eat a poor diet. From this, they theorise that the creatures are left lacking in vitamin D. [ + ]

Intellectual assets can be commercialised but the road from idea to marketplace success can be fraught. Frequently those with the original genius idea are not by nature entrepreneurial or commercially savvy - this is especially true with those from a research or academic background and turning an intellectual asset into something tradable is not a simple, straightforward process. [ + ]

The seaside town of Lorne, less than two hours' drive from Melbourne, will soon host its traditional series of life sciences conferences. The Mantra Lorne offers beachfront accommodation surrounded by 12 acres of landscaped gardens, making it an ideal setting for the two-week conference series. [ + ]

University of Queensland scientists have discovered a way of converting large proteins into small molecules suitable for drug development, while retaining their key properties. [ + ]

The purpose of the University of Queensland's Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis (CMM), located at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), is to promote, support and initiate research and teaching in the applications of microscopy and microanalysis. Appropriately, the centre is now home to Australia's first in-situ sectioning electron microscope. [ + ]

Facilities that store human brain tissue, so-called 'brain banks', are finding it harder than ever to get a share of the medical research dollar in Australia. Yet they remain an incredibly important, relevant and valuable resource for many studies in neuroscience, and Tasmanian neuroscientist James Vickers is keen to explain why. [ + ]

The scale and pace of Asia's transformation in recent years is unprecedented and provides opportunities and challenges as Australian companies seek to respond to the rising demands for medical devices in Asia. [ + ]

Researchers have stated that overworked patent offices are struggling to keep up with the rapid explosion in information and technology that genetic sequences represent, while the public at large is kept in the dark about gene patenting practices. It is hoped that a free online resource will bring some transparency to an otherwise opaque system. [ + ]

Researchers investigating the Sima de los Huesos ('pit of bones'), an underground cave in the Sierra de Atapuerca in northern Spain, have extracted and analysed mtDNA from the femur of a 400,000-year-old hominin, an ancient human. DNA this old had until recently been retrieved only from the permafrost. [ + ]

Adelaide researcher Dr Tasha Stanton has always been frustrated by pain. Not her own but that of others and why, with all of our scientific advances and very large brains, we can't do more to alleviate it, especially in those who live with chronic pain. [ + ]