Professor Kurt Lambeck will today be awarded the Legion of Honour - the highest decoration in France - in recognition of his contribution to the field of science and his strong ties to the country. [ + ]

Sigma-Aldrich Corporation has announced that BioReliance has signed an agreement to acquire the colonies required for the Big Blue transgenic rodent mutation (TRM) assay and to obtain a licence to its associated trademark from Agilent Technologies. [ + ]

AgPlus Diagnostics has announced that the first functional prototype of the company’s handheld analytical platform is now fully operational and available for demonstration. [ + ]

Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) are developing a test to measure the expression of haemoglobin by the resident microalgae that live within coral. [ + ]

University of Newcastle and Israeli drug developer Proteologics have signed a deal covering joint development of an asthma treatment based on midline-1 inhibitors. [ + ]

Research revealing that genetic sequences once considered as ‘junk DNA’ can regulate cancer genes could lead to the development of new cancer drugs to reactivate tumour suppressor genes. [ + ]

Clinical Network Services has appointed toxicologist Dr Doug Francis to its BioDesk consultancy. [ + ]

Alchemia (ASX:ACL) has completed enrolment of 415 patients for its Phase III trial of HA-Irinotecan in metastatic colorectal cancer. [ + ]

Successful animal trials of dendrimer-doxorubicin have prompted Starpharma (ASX:SPL) to file for a patent for the formula in preparation for partnership negotiations. [ + ]

Prima BioMed (ASX:PRR) has begun recruiting patients into its ovarian cancer vaccine trial in Europe. [ + ]

The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator is seeking nominations for membership of the Gene Technology Technical Advisory Committee and the Gene Technology Ethics and Community Consultative Committee. [ + ]

After more than 20 years of service, the Australian National Beamline Facility will be retired this month and its iconic instrument, an in-vacuum diffractometer dubbed ‘Big Diff’, will head back to Australian shores. [ + ]

Waters Corporation, an analytical science solutions developer and provider headquartered in Massachusetts, has announced the opening of a new solution centre in Singapore. [ + ]

Bionomics (ASX:BNO) has launched a 1-for-8 rights issue to help raise cash for its drug development programs and improve its ability to independently fund clinical trials. [ + ]

The search for new pathways to treat melanoma has unearthed a molecular target that may play an important activation role in tumour growth, according to University of Newcastle researchers. [ + ]