Industry News
Australian biotech market watch 19/02/10
Prima BioMed, Biota Holdings, Cochlear, ResMed, CSL [ + ]
Nanomagnetics enhances green chemistry
McGill University researchers have developed a nanotech catalyst which uses magnetics that may reduce the need for heavy metals in processes.
[ + ]Waters to supply Daiso bulk process chromatography media
Waters and Daiso have entered into a collaborative agreement to globally market and supply Daisogel bulk packing materials for process chromatography.
[ + ]Lorne special: Tracking recent human evolution
A new test aims to reveal the influence of natural selection on the human genome, possibly revealing mutations that lend resistance to disease. [ + ]
Step forward in linking metals to Alzheimer’s disease
Study in mice finds significant role for zinc transport protein ZnT3 in the neurodegenerative disease. [ + ]
Genetic Technologies hits U.S. firms with patent infringement
Patent infringement suit brought against nine U.S. biotechnology companies for use of non-coding DNA technology. [ + ]
Research funding implications from UWA intellectual property case
Universities may have less money to fund research and may be less able to provide the expensive infrastructure that researchers require to undertake their research as a result of the outcome of a court case over intellectual property rights, according to Professor Alan Robson, Vice-Chancellor of The University of Western Australia.
[ + ]Miniature GC for environmental testing
Dolomite has used microfluidic miniaturisation to produce portable, robust and low-power GC systems suitable for environmental applications such as atmospheric monitoring.
[ + ]Australian blood ‘biobank’ launches
The ASPREE Healthy Ageing Biobank Cluster will establish a 'biobank' of blood samples collected from over 10,000 healthy elderly Australians. The collaborative research cluster will focus on establishing the biobank samples to be used in advancing research into the prediction and early diagnosis of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cancer.
[ + ]Science, art and epilepsy
SymbioticA, the art and science collaborative research laboratory at The University of Western Australia, has been awarded first place in the international VIDA 12.0 competition, which recognises excellence in artistic creativity using new technologies and artificial life.
[ + ]Lorne special: Sleuthing oncogenes
Tom Gonda’s research team at the Diamantina Institute in Brisbane is using new technology to unmask the proto-oncogenes that can cause cancer in mutant form. [ + ]
Antibodies implicated in severe dengue virus-induced disease
The La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology has validated the longheld theory that antibodies actually contribute to severe dengue virus-induced disease.
[ + ]Qiagen and Celera establish distribution agreement for respiratory pathogen panel
Qiagen is to distribute a Celera molecular multiplex assay for detection of respiratory pathogens.
[ + ]Molecular causes of genetic diseases
A new study using bioinformatics, led by scientists at the Buck Institute for Age Research, reports the ability to predict the molecular cause of many inherited genetic diseases. These predictions involve tens of thousands of genetic disease-causing mutations and have led to the creation of a web-based tool available to academic researchers who study disease.
[ + ]Lorne special: Piecing together the breast cancer puzzle
Just when things seemed to be going around in circles, some quite unexpected data from WEHI has opened up an exciting new avenue in breast cancer research. [ + ]

