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.

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. [ + ]

Eight up-and-coming University of Queensland researchers have received awards at the 2006 UQ Foundation Research Excellence Awards held at Brisbane Customs House.

A 3D brain model is at the centre of a project created by a group of postgraduate students based at Melbourne’s Howard Florey Institute.

Professor John Mattick is challenging the orthodoxy that selfish DNA is the cornerstone of the genome. Regulatory RNA is where it's all happening, as Graeme O'Neill reports. [ + ]

When the news of remarkable results in a pre-clinical trial of a potential drug for Alzheimer's disease was released in July, the headlines screamed and the share price for Prana Biotechnology went through the roof. Graeme O'Neill probes the details. [ + ]

Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott recently announced the 19 members of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) for the next three years, presenting the head of one of Australia's largest medical research institutes, Professor Michael Good, with an unexpected but very welcome new challenge. Fiona Wylie reports. [ + ]

With developments in the embryonic stem cell debate changing as quickly as Melbourne's weather, Kate McDonald asked two of Australia's leading researchers - Stephen Livesey and Bernie Tuch - what would happen should the recommendations of the Lockhart Review be implemented. [ + ]

Is it possible to re-awaken dormant pathways in humans to regenerate tissue? Graeme O'Neill talks to Professor Randall Moon about the Wnt family of cell-signalling proteins. [ + ]