Promising results from two new blood tests will make gastrointestinal (GI) cancer detection simpler, cost effective and more acceptable to patients than current methods, researchers say.

For decades, liquid chromatography has been the primary tool used to purify synthesised compounds in drug discovery. A target compound’s successful progression from hit to lead status depends not only on its structure-based biological activity, but also on compound purity.

The prevailing wisdom among many scientists and scientific organisations is that, as a rule, scientists are press shy, and those who aren’t are mavericks.

Communication, project management and commercialisation skills combined with advanced scientific knowledge can create a degree that is the scientific equivalent to an MBA.

A portable ‘lab on a chip’ that can identify target molecules in blood samples has been created by European researchers. It is being used to measure fertility hormones and detect the genes associated with certain types of cancer.

Most cancers are rare in people with Down syndrome, whose overall cancer mortality is below 10% of that in the general population. Since they have an extra copy of chromosome 21, it’s been proposed that people with Down syndrome may be getting an extra dose of one or more cancer-protective genes.

Chemists and engineers at the University of Warwick have found that exposing particular mixtures of polymer particles and other materials to sudden freeze-drying can create a high-tech armoured foam that could be used for a number of purposes, including a new range of room-temperature, low-power gas sensors.

Space is not a fun place to get a stomach bug. To ensure drinking water is adequately disinfected, University of Utah chemists have developed a two-minute water quality monitoring method that just started six months of tests aboard the International Space Station.

New sequencing and analysis of six strains of Chlamydia will result in improved diagnosis of the sexually transmitted infection. This study provides remarkable insights into a new strain of Chlamydia that was identified in Sweden in 2006 after spreading rapidly across the country by evading most established diagnostic tests.

Australian Earth Scientists have joined forces with food scientists and chemists in an international effort to fight global food crime using new tamper-proof technology that pinpoints exactly where in the world particular foods have been produced.

Dr Nicole Bryce is applying her experience in 3-D imaging to see just how far fluorescent drugs can penetrate into live tumour-cell masses. [ + ]

More than 2000 light microscope images and movies were entered in the 2009 Olympus Bioscapes competition. The stunning winners and honourable mentions included the University of Melbourne's Dr Jeremy Packett-Heaps, whose movie titled 'Sexual Attraction in Spyrogyra' was awarded third place.

The body’s circadian clock may not be as controlling as previously thought. Researchers have established that feeding time determines the activity of a large number of genes completely independent of the circadian clock.

Name changed to give company "more distinct corporate identity". [ + ]

A series of studies carried out at the University of Haifa has found that rodent, reptile and ant lion species behave differently on either side of the Israel-Jordan border. "The border line, which is only a demarcation on the map, cannot contain these species, but the line does restrict humans and their diverse impact on nature," says Dr Uri Shanas.