The Small Scale Technology Cluster (STC) has available small cash grants and discounted access to MiniFAB’s facilities through its Small Scale Technology Access Program. Applications will be reviewed and ranked by the STC Scientific Review Panel.

American researchers may have run off with the big prizes in science this week, but finally there's some good news for dear old Orstralya - we won an Ig Nobel! [ + ]

The US-based X Prize Foundation has launched an audacious competition to find a private company that can successfully map 100 human genomes in just 10 days. The winner will receive US$10 million (AU$13.75m). [ + ]

Melbourne-based Prana Biotechnology has announced that it has received regulatory approval from Sweden's Medical Products Agency (MPA) to start a Phase IIa clinical trial of its proprietary lead compound, PBT2, in patients with early Alzheimer's disease. [ + ]

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2006 to Roger Kornberg of California's Stanford University for his studies of the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription. [ + ]

A Yale University School of Medicine study shows for the first time that a high level of testosterone, such as that caused by the use of steroids to increase muscle mass or for replacement therapy, can lead to a catastrophic loss of brain cells. [ + ]

One of Australia’s diabetes specialists has praised Sydney-based biotech company Apollo Life Sciences’ work to develop an insulin that can be taken as a tablet rather than injected, calling needle-free insulin ‘the Holy Grail’ in diabetes treatment.

Congratulations to Sandra Romanin and her husband Karim on the birth of their first child - a beautiful daughter named Lara.

American geneticists Andrew Fire and Craig Mello have won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of RNA interference, a mechanism for controlling the flow of genetic information. [ + ]

Australian-born molecular biologist Professor Elizabeth Blackburn has won the prestigious Lasker Award for the discovery of telomerase, the enzyme that synthesises telomeres, the tiny units of DNA that seal off the ends of chromosomes. [ + ]

Liberal backbencher Senator Kay Patterson last night tabled her promised private member's bill on embryonic stem cell research and therapeutic cloning. [ + ]

A Queensland biotechnology company has raised AU$11.9 m to fund the development of new types of therapeutic drugs.

A Royal North Shore Hospital discovery has been commercialised by US company Beckman Coulter, manufacturer of biomedical testing equipment, through its DSL subsidiary.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine have discovered a unique evolutionary link between the immune systems of fish and mammals in the form of a primitive version of B cells, white blood cells of the immune system. [ + ]

The last couple of years have been rather disastrous for West Australian biotech Chemeq, manufacturer of polymer microbials for pigs and poultry. However, a new management team has come up with a plan to turn its fortunes around, as Kate McDonald reports. [ + ]