As part of the University of Western Australia's (UWA) Raine Visiting Professor Lecture Series, Stephan Schuster is this week presenting a talk titled 'How ethnicity matters for medical genomics'. [ + ]

The 2014 Ig Nobel Prizes were awarded on 18 September at the 24th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, held at Harvard University's Sanders Theatre. [ + ]

This year, Australia stamped its presence on the 2014 BIO International Convention with more than 250 delegates from Australia attending BIO 2014, making Australia the eighth-largest international delegation. Australia's continuing presence at BIO coincides with Australia's growing reputation as one of the world leaders in biotechnology.

Genetic Technologies (ASX:GTG) will sell its Australian genetics testing business to a Primary Health Care subsidiary for $2m. [ + ]

Cartilage plays an active role in the destruction and remodelling of joints in rheumatoid arthritis. [ + ]

Starpharma (ASX:SPL) is conducting an up to $23m placement and plans to use part of the proceeds to help fund clinical trials of VivaGel and DEP docetaxel.

Australia's first team to enter BIOMOD, an undergraduate synthetic biology competition held by Harvard University, is calling for funds to help cover the team's participation in the event. [ + ]

The Sydney Engineering Excellence Awards winners for 2014 were last week announced by Engineers Australia Sydney Division. The 13 winning engineering projects were selected by a panel of expert judges from 49 finalists. [ + ]

Minomic International has commenced a US pilot trial of prostate cancer screening test MiSat and plans to use the results to inform a larger trial and an FDA submission.

Researchers from Leiden University have found that the precision with which people make decisions can be predicted by measuring pupil size before they are presented with any information about the decision. [ + ]

Brisbane's Translation Research Institute (TRI) is offering a national prize to recognise Australian research that has resulted in a technology or treatment to improve human health. [ + ]

GI Dynamics (ASX:GID) has announced data showing that obese patients treated with its EndoBarrier device showed reduced 10-year cardiovascular risk. [ + ]

Multiple Sclerosis Research Australia has joined a global alliance to work towards better understanding and treating progressive multiple sclerosis. [ + ]

A German hospital has found Nanosonics' (ASX:NAN) trophon EPR ultrasound probe disinfection device to be superior to the standard manual wipe method. [ + ]

Applications are open for the veski Innovation Fellowships that encourage international researchers to relocate to Victoria. [ + ]