An international research collaboration has provided a genome sequence for the white Guinea yam — a staple crop with huge economic and cultural significance on the African continent. [ + ]

According to a new study from UNSW, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is not itself an epidemic. Rather, it has the potential to worsen pandemics or seasonal influenza epidemics, and should be kept in perspective. [ + ]

Stem cells can now be triggered to change into heart muscle cells thanks to a new method involving synthetic molecules, developed by researchers at Kyoto University. [ + ]

Sirtex Medical has paid a penalty of $100,000 after the Australian Securities and Investments Commission issued an infringement notice for an alleged failure by the company to comply with its continuous disclosure obligations. [ + ]

Monash University scientists have adopted a Single Cell RNA-Seq System, from Dolomite Bio, to further their research into animal models of diabetic nephropathy. [ + ]

Regenerative medicine company Avita Medical has announced the execution of an expanded contract option valued at approximately US$24.3 million. [ + ]

Deakin University and Chinese biotech company Suzhou GenePharma have partnered to develop a blood test that can detect fatal diseases like pancreatic or lung cancer. [ + ]

ComBio2017 — the combined meeting of the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Australian Society of Plant Scientists and Australia and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology — will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre from 2–5 October 2017. [ + ]

Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals has received ethics approval for its Phase 2b clinical trial to investigate pentosan polysulfate sodium (PPS) in subjects with knee osteoarthritis (OA) and bone marrow edema lesions (BMELs). [ + ]

Professor William Carroll, a multiple sclerosis clinician and researcher at Western Australia's Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science, has been elected president of the World Federation of Neurology (WFN). [ + ]

UK scientists have used CRISPR-CAS9 to study the role of the OCT4 protein in early human embryo development. [ + ]

MTPConnect and LSQ (Life Sciences Queensland Limited) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to boost the Australian life sciences sector. [ + ]

Personalised medicine for childhood cancers in Australia is now one step closer, following the launch of the Zero Childhood Cancer program's national clinical trial. [ + ]

Australian researchers have discovered that metformin, a common anti-diabetic drug, could have anti-ageing properties which could lead to longer, healthier lifespans. [ + ]

Researchers have grown three-dimensional samples of mineralised bone from human mesenchymal stem cells without typical osteoinductive media. [ + ]