This year’s AusBiotech conference will focus on the transformation of the Australian biotech industry, following its evolution and the application of its bioactivity across areas such as agriculture, food technology and health. In this preview we provide a bumper sample of what’s in store for Brisbane at the end of October. [ + ]

Regeneus, a Sydney-based company with a strong pipeline of cell-based treatments derived from adipose tissue, raised $10.5m last month in a fully subscribed IPO. [ + ]

The AusBiotech Annual Report 2013 has been released, detailing another solid performance for AusBiotech and showing how it has delivered for its members and the Australian biotechnology industry. AusBiotech was steadfast in its advocacy and active in its representation and support of the industry, delivering a number of achievements in policy terms. [ + ]

The University of Queensland (UQ) and global pharmaceutical company LEO Pharma have entered a strategic research collaboration to deliver new treatment options to skin cancer patients. [ + ]

Calzada's (ASX:CZD) PolyNovo said its NovoSorb BTM dermal scaffold was well tolerated and effective during a 10-patient trial involving its use in free-flap donor site repair. [ + ]

A technique developed several years ago at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for improving optical microscopes has now been applied to monitoring the next generation of computer chip circuit components, potentially providing the semiconductor industry with a crucial tool for improving chips for the next decade or more. [ + ]

For hundreds of years, optical devices like microscopes and telescopes have relied on solid lenses that slide up and down to magnify and to focus. In pursuit of ever-smaller imaging systems, researchers are now working to create entirely unconventional ways of focusing light. [ + ]

Take too much fertiliser, an inefficient crop, not enough land into the future to feed the world and more than a pinch of economics - and you have a recipe for disaster. Thankfully, Brent Kaiser is quietly confident that scientists like him can contribute to a more sustainable future. [ + ]

Clinical Genomics recently acquired the US-based cancer screening company Enterix. [ + ]

Prima BioMed (ASX:PRR) is re-evaluating using PFS as a primary objective of an upcoming trial of its CVac cancer immunotherapy candidate, based on results to date of an earlier study. [ + ]

Researchers from the University of São Paulo have found that insects modify their mating behaviour in response to the changes in air pressure which precede a storm. By reducing mating during wind and rain, it is suggested that the insects are also reducing their risk of injury or death. [ + ]

Divesting business in China will allow Agenix to focus on its diagnostics projects. [ + ]

Deep Lake, located 5 km from Davis Station in Antarctica, is 3500 years old, 36 m deep and so salty that it remains in liquid form down to a temperature of -20°C. Researchers have now uncovered the secrets of the lake's dominant inhabitants - extremophile microbes from the haloarchaea group. [ + ]

The planet is warming, but Dr Marilyn Ball’s research group has found that rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere makes cold-tolerant plants more susceptible to frost. [ + ]

Each year the American Chemical Society surveys its members to gain a snapshot of their employment and salaries. This year's survey has found that 2013 is looking much better for chemists and chemical engineers in the US as both employment and salaries are increasing. [ + ]