Cell cultures often form the testing ground for new active agents. Results can only be reliable if cell growth is standardised. This process will soon happen automatically with a microscope to monitor growth and image processing to control cultivation via integrated robotics.

BresaGen has concluded an agreement with Indian firm BV BioCorp, to register and distribute BresaGen's G-CSF for leukaemia and an undisclosed product in India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal. [ + ]

Portland Orthopaedics (ASX:PLD) has initiated registration of its complete range of orthopaedic products with the State Drug Administration of China (SFDA), in a process expected to take 12 months. [ + ]

Cell therapy company CyGenics (ASX:CYN) will be part of a new international collaborative effort to develop new treatments of cancer using the novel approach of developing and mobilising immune cells outside the human body. [ + ]

Melbourne Alzheimer's disease (AD) drug developer Prana Biotechnology (ASX:PBT, Nasdaq:PRAN) now has visual confirmation of its prototype plaque-buster, clioquinol, at work in an animal brain. [ + ]

In a program which promises to boost the nation's billion dollar barley exports by up to a third, a team at the Molecular Plant Breeding Cooperative Research Centre (MPBCRC) is busy turning 'cow-tucker' into top quality beer-making ingredients.

Qiagen and Eppendorf have announced that they have formed a strategic alliance that includes co-development and co-marketing of complementary and optimised products. The alliance is intended to link the brands and product lines and to ensure the highest compatibility of their products targeting the research, applied testing and molecular diagnostics.

Julie Nutting has stepped down as both CEO and director of Sydney-based Psiron (ASX:PSX), positions she has held since December 2003. [ + ]

Biosensor Enterprises (BEL) will no longer work to develop Sydney-based Ambri's (ASX:ABI) ion-channel switch (ICS), and will instead focus on out-licensing the technology. [ + ]

Narhex Life Sciences (ASX:NLS) has signed a manufacturing contract with Indian, Nasdaq-listed company Dr Reddy's for initial GMP-grade production of the prodrug of Narhex's candidate HIV protease inhibitor, DG35. [ + ]

Generic medicines company Genepharm Australasia's (ASX:GAA) brand of Simvastatin has been listed in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods, the final stage of TGA approval and registration process for its cholesterol-reducing drug. [ + ]

Prima Biomed's (ASX:PRR) results from a phase I clinical trial of its CancerVac MFP technology for advanced adenocarcinoma have been accepted and published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research. [ + ]

Invitrogen and genOway have signed a co-marketing agreement around RNAi related services. Under the terms of the agreement, Invitrogen and genOway will combine Invitrogen's expertise in RNAi research technologies with genOway's portfolio of transgenesis technologies and RNAi in vivo experience to create a services platform offering RNAi vector design through the creation of RNAi transgenic rodent models.

Western Australia's new premier, Alan Carpenter, has created a portfolio for science and innovation. [ + ]

Chemeq (ASX:CMQ) has upped the production capability of its Rockingham manufacturing facility, announcing today that it can now produce as much as 280,000 litres of the company's polymeric antimicrobial each year. [ + ]