The European Institute of Oncology (IEO), an Italy-based organisation committed to fighting cancer - particularly tumours of the breast, lung, prostate and bowel - has implemented a new laboratory information management system (LIMS) to more efficiently manage its biospecimen data. [ + ]

Hatchtech has raised $12.6m from existing and new investors to support its phase III trials and US NDA for DeOvo, a single-dose headlice treatment. [ + ]

Shares in Prana Biotechnology (ASX:PBT) climbed 43% after a scientific paper detailed how Alzheimer's drug candidate PBT2 reversed cognitive and memory loss in old mice. [ + ]

Protego Medical, a company developing a device to protect the sternum during cardiac surgery, launched yesterday with $2m in MRCF seed funding. [ + ]

From mathematics and statistics, through electronics, quantum computing and defeating zombie ideas in ecology, to inspirational primary and high school teaching, this year's winners of the Prime Minister's Prize for Sciences show the depth of talent in the Australian science scene. [ + ]

Brisbane yesterday welcomed the official launch of the AusBiotech 2013 national conference - a premier event on the Australia and Asia-Pacific calendar - recognising world-class leaders in the biotechnology industry with the Janssen Industry Excellence Awards. [ + ]

Fiona Wood reflects on her career choice as a plastic surgeon, combining this with clinical research and the challenges involved in improving clinical outcomes of burns patients. [ + ]

A team of German researchers has devised a novel, non-invasive way to make monitoring of blood glucose easier. [ + ]

CSIRO scientists have discovered that eucalyptus trees in Western Australia's Kalgoorlie are drawing up gold particles from the earth via their root system and depositing it in their leaves and branches. Their findings have been published in the journal Nature Communications. [ + ]

Starpharma (ASX:SPL) has published a second set of preclinical data suggesting that cancer drugs produced with its dendrimer platform can eliminate bone marrow toxicity neutropenia. [ + ]

Shares in Phosphagenics (ASX:POH) climbed 42% after the company reported strong plasma concentrations from the first in-human trial of opioid pain patch TPM/oxymorphone. [ + ]

When sourcing a concentration method for their microtitre plates containing oligonucleotides (oligos), researchers at high-throughput genome analysis centres must take care to choose an evaporator system that will not only provide fast drying, but also take good care of their samples. [ + ]

Establishing a small biotech company and getting products to market are just some of the challenges facing companies in the Australian biotech sector. [ + ]

Scorpions could hold the secret to better cancer treatment, according to researchers from the Queensland Tropical Health Alliance (QTHA). The alliance recently acquired a $1.2 million nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer and facility to investigate the structure of promising molecules, some of which are found in scorpion venom. [ + ]

The US FDA has for the third time rejected pSivida (ASX:PVA) licensee Alimera Sciences' NDA for diabetic macular edema treatment Iluvien. [ + ]