This premier international scientific meeting brings together the 12th IUBMB Conference, the 21st FAOBMB Conference and the ComBio2010 meeting. A unique blend of participating societies will be of major interest to biochemists, molecular biologists, cell and developmental biologists, and plant scientists.

Monitoring and controlling the amount of organic matter in our streams and waterways is critical for environmental protection. Total organic carbon (TOC) is the amount of carbon present in an organic compound and measuring it provides a fast and convenient way to determine water quality. This article looks at the different methods now available for analysing TOC.

A cooperative online game that puts volunteer ‘gamers’ to work folding proteins has attracted 50,000 players whose ‘distributed thinking’ has, in some cases, proven more powerful than computers in predicting the three-dimensional structure of proteins.

A microfluidic device uses antibodies to ‘capture’ white blood cells called T cells affected by HIV.

A doctoral student at the research centre Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (FZD) suggests interpreting the images generated by Kelvin probe force microscopy in a new way. She recently published her insights in the journal ‘Physical Review B’.

Effective August 24, 2007, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a regulation (21 CFR Part 111) that established the minimum current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMPs) required for activities in manufacturing, packaging, labelling and holding Dietary Supplements to ensure the identity, purity, quality, strength and composition of these products.

The BioSpec-nano has 2 optical pathlengths (0.2 mm, 0.7 mm), allowing quantitation of nucleic acid with sample volumes of 1 µL and 2 µL, respectively.

Unidentified microbes devouring anything is usually a cause for concern but in the Gulf of Mexico they are consuming the spilt oil from BP's Deepwater Horizon wellhead, apparently without consuming all the oxygen and creating dead zones.

Adelaide biotech Bionomics has presented the results of preclinical and clinical data for its anti-anxiety compound BNC210, demonstrating that the drug is more effective in treating stressed rats than the current market leader valium (Diazapem). [ + ]

Troubled HIV drug developer Avexa may be poised for yet another coup after major shareholder Caldaza this week called for an extraordinary general meeting to discuss the future of the company [ + ]

It took nearly two decades to go from the release of the first semi-automated genome sequencer in the mid-1980s to the launch of Roche's flagship 454 FLX next generation sequencer in 2005. The 454 is now one of three major players in the next gen market whose impact on the world of genomics cannot be underestimated. Just five years later we are poised to embrace the next generation of sequencing technology. [ + ]

Scientists using mathematics to try to determine what causes the birth of a human fat cell have come up with a few predictions about the proteins that influence this process.

Troubled drug developer and healthcare provider Sigma Pharmaceuticals finally put an end to months of speculation today declaring that it would recommend shareholders accept an offer from Aspen Pharmacare to buy its pharmaceuticals business for $900 million. [ + ]

Scientists at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) have completed a study showing that cells which lead to inflammation in fat tissue may be a primary cause of insulin resistance in sufferers of diabetes. [ + ]

Melbourne biotech Patrys has appointed renowned medical academic Dr Marie Roskrow as its Chief Medical Officer and President. [ + ]