While forensic scientists used to use blood typing and other methods to identify crime suspects, DNA identification and profiling is now the method of choice. Since its first use in an Australian court in 1989, the technology has moved from the controversial to the mainstream, although controversy still rages around the issue of creating databases of DNA profiles for criminal identification. [ + ]

In two years' time, a Federal government program credited with encouraging the injection of vital funds into Australian research and development will draw to a close. [ + ]

When Dr Graeme Woodrow joined Biotech Australia as a bench scientist in 1983, a colleague told him: 'It would be a scandal for anyone to make a profit from a malaria vaccine." [ + ]

When it comes to growing a biotech industry, it seems every state needs a geographic focal point. Victoria has the Parkville and Monash clusters, South Australia has the Thebarton hub and in Queensland the biotech industry is centred around Brisbane and the Gold Coast. In NSW, the population's inland sprawl has resulted in a spotlight being turned on Western Sydney. [ + ]

Researchers performing leading edge bioinformatics work are as likely to use a desktop machine as hold an account at a supercomputer centre. Whatever their hardware, the bio-IT wish list of most members of the research community is headed by the same item: software that is smarter on at least two counts. [ + ]

What's the difference between a biotech and a dot com? The average age of the board or directors. Funny? Maybe, but not exactly accurate. While there may be a sense of déjà vu - small start-ups looking for cash stampeding to the market - the biotech industry, unlike dot coms, is anything but an overnight phenomenon. [ + ]

In the last 10 years, we've seen a dizzying array of new variations of mass spectrometry instruments, and at the same time as we've seen radical changes in scientific discovery. Mass spectrometry has become a key tool across the life sciences, from discovery to routine lab work. Consequently there seems to be an almost limitless range of permutations of mass spec. [ + ]

During the past decade, dramatic progress in the field of mass spectrometry has resulted in a large increase in the number of commercially available mass spectrometry (MS) instruments principally used for biochemical analysis. Advances in mass spectrometry instrumentation, driven primarily by proteomics and the need to identify low abundance proteins (<50 femtomoles) has resulted in the current generation of instruments having approximately 50 times more sensitivity combined with substantially greater resolution than mass spectrometers available only four or five years ago. [ + ]

Prof Bob Williamson's involvement in genetics goes back to a time when few people understood the possibilities of the science. [ + ]

The decision to pursue post-doctoral studies overseas is one of the defining moments in a young Australian scientist's career. [ + ]

Bio-researchers are burning through about one-quarter of the total computational cycles at some of Australia's largest computing centres. [ + ]

As well as the many clinical research projects looking for cures and better treatments, a major emphasis in stemming the level of adult-onset diabetes in Australia lies in education and awareness. [ + ]

Attend any major meeting on diabetes around the world and chances are there will be a fair contingent of Aussies in attendance. Australian researchers are renowned for their work in all facets of the disease, which experts say has now burgeoned to epidemic proportions. [ + ]

Similarities between New Zealand and Scotland are plentiful - the agrarian industries, the scenery, the weather. But one of the less heralded similarities is the two places' biotechnology industries - or at least, it was, before Scotland's received a major boost about four years ago. [ + ]

With New Zealand's general election imminent, many in the biotechnology industry believe the outcome could determine the sector's future. [ + ]