Internationally renowned embryonic stem cell expert Martin Pera will leave Monash University and the Australian Stem Cell Centre (ASCC) in April to head the newly created Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (ISCRM) at the University of Southern California. [ + ]

The failure of the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu to save the lives of patients with established H5N1 avian influenza infections may be a consequence of the drug's design, mode of delivery, and the uniqueness of the virus itself, according to experts. [ + ]

Following a board stoush last year and calls by shareholders at the company's AGM for a change in management, Polartechnics (ASX:PLT) CEO Victor Skladnev was yesterday replaced by Ben Dillon. [ + ]

Melbourne based adult stem cell company, Mesoblast (ASX:MSB), has been granted what it says is a key adult stem cell patent. [ + ]

Winston Churchill called it his 'black dog'. Abraham Lincoln suffered from bipolar disorder, as did German composer Robert Schumann, and Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh. And a slew of poets including Alfred Lord Tennyson, William Blake, Edgar Allan Poe, Lord Byron and Sylvia Plath lived with manic depression. [ + ]

For the first time DNA analysis can identify paper-degrading microorganisms. This is made possible by a molecular process developed for fungal infected documents at the University of Vienna with support from the Austrian Science Fund FWF.

Rutgers, the state university of New Jersey, USA, researchers have found that the curry spice turmeric holds real potential for the treatment and prevention of prostate cancer, particularly when combined with certain vegetables.

Tissue engineering specialist Clinical Cell Culture's (ASX:CCE, C3) share price took a blow today, in the wake of a request by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for more performance data before it can approve C3's ReCell for sale in the US. [ + ]

EvoGenix (ASX:EGX) has reported results on the development of its product OVP, for the treatment of bone loss. [ + ]

The research community has paid tribute to Justice John Lockhart, the chair of a recently concluded review of Australia's stem cell legislation, who died in Sydney on Friday after a brief illness. [ + ]

A team of scientists at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, led by Professor Michal Schwartz of the Neurobiology Department, has come up with new findings that may have implications in delaying and slowing down cognitive deterioration in old age.

Six months from completing an 18-month collaboration with the US-based High Q Foundation, Sydney's Proteome Systems (ASX:PXL) has statistically validated some of the multiple biomarkers for the inherited neurodegenerative disorder Huntington's disease which it identified in an earlier smaller study. [ + ]

Perth based BioPharmica (ASX:BPH) has opened a share purchase plan to raise AUD$2.5 million to fund the development of its portfolio of biomedical research. [ + ]

Dr Stephen Nutt, based at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, and Dr Anthony Hannan, at the Howard Florey Institute, have each been awarded five-year grants of AUD$1 million under the Pfizer Australia Research Fellowship scheme. [ + ]

A group of entrepreneurial PhD students from a number of Melbourne's premier medical research facilities has developed an innovative biology experiment kit to promote science among school-aged children.