The NSW government's health department is to run a series of forums to explain an ethical review of multi-centre research, including progress towards a model of single ethical and scientific review. [ + ]

Systems biology guru Dr Leroy Hood has entered into a strategic consulting relationship with US molecular testing equipment specialist LabCorp. [ + ]

Australian biotech stocks underperformed both the All Ordinaries and the Nasdaq Biotech Index in 2005, but the second half of the year was brighter with stocks gaining 23.2 per cent, according to the Intersuisse Biotechnology Index. [ + ]

Australian stem cell research experts have spoken out, in a series of statements, of their disappointment in the wake of findings by an independent review panel that a team led by South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk fabricated research on potentially groundbreaking papers on embryonic stem cells. [ + ]

GroPep (ASX:GRO) has begun to recruit healthy women volunteers into a phase I trial of its infertility drug PV903, targeted to treat recurrent miscarriages caused by an abnormal immune response to the foetus. [ + ]

Brisbane based Bio-Layer, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SSH Medical (ASX:SSH), has entered into a development and marketing agreement with a US-based life sciences company for the use of its surface coating product Mix&Go. [ + ]

Melbourne-based Epitan (ASX:EPT, ADR:EPTNY, XETRA:UR9) has entered into a funding agreement with international specialist fund Absolute Capital Management (ACM) to raise AUD$10 million over the next 18 months. [ + ]

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted 'fast track' status to Melbourne drug developer Starpharma's (ASX:SPL) VivaGel. [ + ]

A report in Science journal relating to gene patenting claimed: "Nearly a fifth of all human genes have been patented, a study has found, leading to fears that research into diseases such as breast cancer, diabetes and obesity could be stifled."

Researchers have demonstrated a practical x-ray device that provides 2- and 3-dimensional images of soft biological tissue with details that are ordinarily hard to discern with conventional x-ray imaging.

Researchers at Rice University, the Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Houston and the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland have created what they claim is a new class of magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents that are at least 40 times more effective than the best in clinical use.

Sydney oncology therapy developer Psiron (ASX:PSX) has received orphan drug designation from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its lead oncolytic virus Cavatak (coxsackievirus A21) for the treatment of stage II, stage III and stage IV melanoma. [ + ]

The merger between Melbourne-based companies Cryptome Pharmaceuticals (ASC:CRP) and diagnostics developer HealthLinx has been formalised, following the firms entering a non-binding terms sheet in November. [ + ]

Australia's largest cancer research agency, Melbourne's Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, is linking up with the National Information and Communications Technology Agency (NICTA) to develop adaptive software to sift huge datasets from microarray chips for patterns of gene activity distinctive to different cancers. [ + ]

Tissue engineering specialist Clinical Cell Culture's (ASX:CCE, C3) share price dropped by nearly 30 per cent today on news that the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) intends to reject approval for its ReCell product in Australia. [ + ]