A joint task force has released recommendations to enhance and clarify the existing guidelines governing the testing of new medicines in humans following the notorious TGN1412 trial in the UK

Professor Jenny Graves is internationally renowned for her research into mammalian genetics and chromosomal evolution. To explain her research to a lay audience, she talks about topics we all take a perverse interest in: sex and weird animals. [ + ]

The 11th International Congress on Human Genetics has secured a world-class line-up, not the least of whom is Elizabeth Blackburn. She's looking forward to returning to her former home to reveal more about the activity of her pet subject, telomerase. [ + ]

The big names in the world of rice genomics will gather in Adelaide this August for the International Society of Plant Molecular Biology (ISPMB) congress. Kate McDonald spoke to CSIRO Plant Industry's Dr Narayana Upadhyaya about progress in his field, rice functional genomics. [ + ]

Leading immunologist Professor Ron Penny was so impressed with the potential of a proprietary probiotic, he joined the company. [ + ]

A trial of a vaccine for stages II and III melanoma didn't turn out as expected, so the researchers tried it in stage IV patients, causing a few surprises. [ + ]

CSIRO has come up with a new technique for repairing knee cartilage by combining chondrocytes with a biodegradable polymer. [ + ]

Sequencing of the cattle genome is nearly complete and will herald a revolution in breed improvement. [ + ]

It might not involve depositing your valuables in a bank in a traditional sense, but biobanks are set to become a rich library of knowledge. [ + ]

How and why do we age, can we do anything about it or is our lifespan programmed from the moment of conception? [ + ]

The Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference (ABIC) is being held in Melbourne this year, bringing with it such names as Alan Colman, Jennifer Thomson and Robert Wall. With Australia's economy still so reliant on the land, Graeme O'Neill takes a look at what our neighbours across the pond can teach us about harnessing the power of biotechnology in agriculture. [ + ]

The need to save money and improve performance at the same time is providing added impetus to the development of laboratory and analysis solutions

Open sharing of information is a basic principle of the scientific process, but it is well known that secrecy has become a fact of life in academic science

When sexual species reproduce asexually, they accumulate bad mutations at an increased rate, report two Indiana University evolutionary biologists. The researchers used the model species Daphnia pulex, or water flea, for their studies

Not that rigorous? Anathema though this thought may be to most pharmaceutical quality managers, it is nonetheless quite apparent to companies such as ours, which make products critical to maintaining quality in pharmaceutical and other applications