A PhD student from Monash University has succeeded in tweaking the chemical structure of insulin leading potentially to the development of medications that are stable at room temperature. [ + ]

Avita Medical has announced exceptional results following the first FDA-approved treatment of a U.S burns patient with the company’s ReCell spray-on-skin treatment. [ + ]

The Queensland Health and Medical Research Awards held in Brisbane last Friday honoured a number of outstanding individuals for their work in areas including pain treatment, immunology, lymphoma and post transplant disorders. [ + ]

A British biotech company is preparing for phase II trials of a new antibiotic being viewed as a major leap forward in the fight against drug -resistant strains of bacteria. [ + ]

A consortium has launched legal action against four biotechnology companies, including Genetic Technologies (GTG), challenging the validity of patents concerning genetic material. [ + ]

The federal government has announced new funding of $440,000 to support 69 research collaborations between Australian and overseas groups, as part of the International Science Linkages – Science Academies Program. [ + ]

Dynamin is well known for its role in controlling endocytosis, particularly in synaptic vesicles in nerve cells and for its pivotal role in the brain. [ + ]

University of Queensland Associate professor Nancy Pachana has been awarded the 2010 ADC ( Australian Davos Connection ) Future Summit Leadership Award for her contribution to medical understanding of how the brain ages. [ + ]

New Zealand science software specialists Biomatters has released the latest version of its Geneious Pro sequence analysis software, which it says will allow users to achieve the full bacterial genome assembly for data from a range of leading sequencers using just a desktop computer. [ + ]

Declines in banks and miners pulled the S&P/ASX200 Index down today erasing Thursday’s gains and leaving the exchange pretty much where it started the week. [ + ]

A scraping of buccal cells from the lining of the cheek can predict, with a high measure of reliability, one’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, or determine how far they have already progressed towards dementia. From the ability to predict, comes the prospect of being able to prevent. [ + ]

Prima BioMed announced today that its CVac ovarian cancer therapy vaccine has been granted Orphan Medicinal Product Designation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). [ + ]

The Burnett Institute’s ImmunoMonitoring Facility (IMF) has become first such facility in Victoria, and only the fifth in Australia, to be accredited by the National Association of Testing Authorities of Australia. [ + ]

Researchers from Australia’s Walter and Eliza Hall and Burnett Institutes, and the Imperial College London have completed a potentially ground breaking study examining the ability of heparin-like molecules to neutralise the malaria virus before it reaches the red blood cells. [ + ]

Cochlear has taken out this year’s coveted ‘red dot award:design’ for its Nucleus 5 System, a solution for people with severe to profound hearing loss. [ + ]