The annual FIRST world championship challenged students from around the world to brainstorm, design, prototype, build and program a robot in just 45 days. [ + ]

Microscope manufacturer WITec's Raman imaging system, apyron, was awarded first prize at the Achema 2015 Innovation Awards in the category of Laboratory and Analytical Technologies. [ + ]

Nominations are now open for the 2015 CSL Florey Medal, awarded biennially to an Australian researcher who has made a significant lifetime achievement in biomedical science and/or human health advancement. [ + ]

Researchers have recently demonstrated the principle of real-time ligand binding to G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), the single most important family of drug targets, using bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET). [ + ]

Hitachi High-Technologies and QIAGEN have entered into a long-term strategic collaboration involving initiatives to deliver advances in molecular testing. [ + ]

Living Cell Technologies last week announced positive results from its Phase I/IIa clinical study of NTCELL, an experimental regenerative cell therapy being studied as a disease-modifying agent in Parkinson's disease. [ + ]

Research Facilities Design and Development (RFDD), held last month at the Aerial UTS Function Centre in Ultimo, was a meeting of the minds to discuss research spaces of the future. [ + ]

The United States, Russia, Serbia, Ukraine, South Africa, Taiwan, Japan and now China and Europe have cleared the way for Merck's acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich. [ + ]

QUT to have access to specialist health and medical research laboratories and facilities in the QIMR Berghofer complex. [ + ]

Australian researchers have discovered that the key to effective breast cancer treatment may lie in predicting the path the cancer plans to take. [ + ]

Paradigm Biopharmaceuticals is raising funds to develop PPS (pentosan polysulphate sodium) as a superior treatment for BME (bone marrow oedema) and allergic rhinitis. [ + ]

A new research and development deal is hoped will realise new treatments for ankylosing spondylitis psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease.

The Queensland-based inventors of the Gardasil HPV vaccine have won the Popular Prize category of the 2015 European Inventor Award — a prestigious annual award that acknowledges inventors who have made major contributions towards social, technological and economic progress. [ + ]

Molecular diagnostics company Genetic Technologies (ASX:GTG) has announced the casual appointment of Eutillio Buccilli as its new executive director. [ + ]

Lonza has announced that it is holding a free webinar, titled 'Pluripotent Stem Cells - From Research to Therapy', on 17 June. The webinar is aimed at helping researchers streamline pluripotent stem cells (PSC) workflow through various stages of research and development. [ + ]