From Devils’ Advocates to beating malaria, life scientists have received several prestigious Eureka Awards at the gala dinner last night. [ + ]

Recognising the need to demonstrate its timeline of discoveries and prove IP inventorship for legal defensibility, Australian pharmaceutical company Cancer Therapeutics CRC has invested in data authenticity protection.

The ASBMB, ASPS and ANZSCDB are holding their joint annual conference from 25-29 September at the Cairns Convention Centre in North Queensland - and everyone’s invited.

Cancer patients may view their tumours as parasites taking over their bodies, but this is more than a metaphor for Peter Duesberg, a molecular and cell biology professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

The demands of compliance-based processes in the life science industry has created specific requirements to capture, catalogue, review, approve and present data used in quality decision-making for drug products.

Pharmaceutical and biomedical research are evolving to take advantage of the development of bioinformatic research programs, incorporating data from new high-resolution assays and technologies such as microarrays and fluorescent in situ hybridisation.

When culturing cells, not only is the constitution of the media significant, so is the solid, physical environment. By using different patterned surfaces, researchers have found that they can use the surface itself to instruct the cells, which could be really useful for growing cells on a larger scale and differentiating them under defined conditions.

It’s a proud day for Australian science: the first complete wallaby genome has been published, revealing insights into unique traits such as its signature hop and antibiotic milk. [ + ]

To be useful an invisibility cloak needs to keep the wearer invisible when he moves around and, to date, most cloaks are only effective if the wearer stands still. But now, a device that tampers with the speed of light offers a solution.

Completely avoiding cell culture contamination is very difficult in busy laboratories. However, careful aseptic technique, appropriate caution and training can reduce the risk of contamination.

Part 1 of this article looks at ways to improve aseptic techniques and to preserve the integrity of cell cultures and sterile liquid transfers. Here in Part 2 we look at the lab environment and how it can impact on safety.

The Arrayed Retroviral Expression Cloning (ARVEC) facility at the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute is pushing the data limits with 'high-content imaging' of cell phenotypes. [ + ]

The mention of E. coli O157:H7 sends a chill through the spine of every food processor. This deadly pathogen has been implicated in disease outbreaks all over the world and only a small load can cause illness. But in the latest outbreak in Germany and France, a new serotype is proving even more deadly.

When just 10% of a population holds an unshakable belief, their belief will always be adopted by the majority of the society, according to latest research from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The scientists, who are members of the Social Cognitive Networks Academic Research Center (SCNARC), used computational and analytical methods to discover the tipping point where a minority belief becomes the majority opinion. The finding has implications for the study and influence of societal interactions ranging from the spread of innovations to the movement of political ideals.

A combination of a new anti-cancer drug with conventional chemotherapy offers improved results for aggressive ‘triple negative’ breast cancers. [ + ]