Diagnostic Product Development has developed a microRNA screening assay that detects the majority of early-stage colorectal cancers with good specificity and sensitivity.

A test based on a panel of microRNAs under development by Rosetta Genomics Ltd, in Israel, may allow for more precise diagnosis and better targeted therapy for patients with lung cancer.

Drought, salinity, flooding and extreme temperatures threaten many plants essential to humankind - and scientists at The University of Western Australia have discovered how they respond to these challenges.

Australian firms are increasing their investment in research and development according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

After 12 years at their present site in Stoddard Road, Mt Roskill, Medica is moving to Albany.

Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) have discovered a new pathway through which malaria is able to infect the body, opening up the possibility of new vaccines to combat the virus. [ + ]

Professor Mark Baker, co-chair of HUPO (Human Proteome Organisation) 2010 committee, has admitted that the Human Proteome Project (HPP) would have been further down the track today if it weren’t for the global financial crisis. [ + ]

The European medicines agency announced overnight that it has suspended marketing authorisations for the anti-diabetes medicine Avandia (Rosiglitazone) citing research data linking the drug to increased risk of heart attack and stroke [ + ]

It’s the Next Big Thing in understanding human biology and the natural successor to the Human Genome Project. It’s the Human Proteome Project (HPP), and it was launched this morning by some of the leading figures in proteomics to a room filled with Australian an international delegates attending the HUPO World Congress in Darling Harbour in Sydney. [ + ]

Shareholders in regenerative medicine company Mesobast have voted almost unanimously in favour of the company acquiring its US subsidiary Angioblast Systems, increasing its 32.6 percent stake to full ownership. [ + ]

They are diseases most people haven’t heard of: Kearns-Sayre syndrome; Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy; Leigh syndrome or mitochondrial encephalomyopathy, lactic acidosis and stroke-like episodes (MELAS). [ + ]

British scientists believe they have found the biological explanation for why some people are better than others at the important facility of introspection. [ + ]

Studies of twins conducted at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) has revealed a number of genes that appear to affect eyesight. [ + ]

Researchers in New Zealand have warned of the potential for new mutant strains of flu after reports of further cases of people testing positive to both the seasonal and pandemic versions of the H1N1 virus. [ + ]

A team of Australian and European Scientists have identified a gene network which appears to be the main culprit in the hardening arteries and heart attacks. [ + ]