In his closing comments to the National Stem Cell Centre conference in Melbourne earlier this month, Monash University's Martin Pera gave voice to a thought many of the scientists at the conference had been contemplating over the previous couple of days. "What is in front of us is of the scale of the Human Genome Project, if not larger," Pera told delegates. "In the last five years the ethical frameworks have been established. But we have to continue the ethical debate." [ + ]

Melissa Trudinger asks industry insiders where the next big investment opportunities will come from -- and identifies a few other likely chances. [ + ]

The thing about bioinformatics, according to Prof Terry Speed, is that it tends to attract people from a variety of disciplines, such as physicists with programming skills not interested in a career in defence, or mathematicians with a practical bent. [ + ]

In the past, the majority of pumps used in the chemical laboratory were water-jet pumps and oil-sealed rotary vane pumps. About 10 years ago, these systems were nearly completely replaced by systems using diaphragm pumps

The merger of molecular spectroscopy with microscopy is not a new concept. Microscope attachments for FT-IR spectrometers have been available for nearly two decades and there are literally thousands of FT-IR spectrometers with these devices installed

Research led by scientists at the University of Toronto and Caprion Pharmaceuticals has uncovered the basis for a diagnostic, immunotherapy and vaccine, providing a way to detect and treat the brain-wasting damage of infectious prions

With the help of biotechnology the race is on to discover the magic bug that will revolutionise the mining industry. Julian Cribb reports

The age of molecular farming may be the salvation of many Australian farms. [ + ]

On a wall at CSIRO Plant Industry's Merbein laboratories, is an old photo-micrograph of a grapevine floral bud. Dr Nigel Steele Scott, head of Plant Industry's horticultural research laboratories in Glen Osmond, South Australia, says it's his favourite image -- a portent of a revolution in viticulture that is still having an enormous impact on the Australian wine industry today. [ + ]

Australia must act now to establish the pattern of laws, institutions and policies needed to guide us through the age of the 'New Genetics', according to a landmark report into the protection of human genetic information released recently

Filtering different kinds of molecules has always been difficult, but a new process by researchers at the University of Rochester may have paved the way to creating a new kind of membrane with pores so fine they can separate a mixture of gases

FRET microscopy imaging is widely used to detect protein-protein interactions inside living cells. This application note describes the use of one and two-photon FRET and in characterising the dimerisation of C/EBPa protein

Manufacturing processes of pharmaceutical tablets may change the morphology of the crystalline state of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) or the excipients

South Australia’s fledgling biotechnology industry has received the first of two shots in the arm with the commissioning of Hydra, a $1.7 million system that is Australia’s third-largest supercomputer and the largest of its type. [ + ]

The consumables market in Australia has long been supported by the lab, mining and agricultural customer. But now, biotech is changing the landscape. Faster moving, smaller and more disposable, consumables are making the move to a technology based market. Jeremy Torr reports [ + ]