The Victorian government has presented a birthday gift for Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research: a AUD$50 million contribution towards the cost of a new seven-storey wing that will double the institute's size. [ + ]

Dr Caroline Gargett from Monash Institute of Medical Research (MIMR) has discovered adult stem cells in the uterus that can be grown into bone, muscle, fat and cartilage and her research has been hailed as a major medical and scientific development by international reproduction experts.

Alchemia (ASX:ACL) has raised AUD$14.6 million through a share placement and will commence a share purchase plan (SPP) to offer an additional $5 million to existing shareholders. [ + ]

Bionomics (ASX:BNO) has licensed two genetic tests for the diagnosis of epilepsy to US giant Laboratory Corporation of America. [ + ]

Australia is the number one location to conduct pharmaceutical clinical trials according to an international benchmarking study undertaken by The Economist Intelligence Unit. [ + ]

Perth-based antimicrobial specialist Chemeq (ASX:CMQ) has agreed to vary the terms of the AUD$60 million convertible bonds issued to the company earlier this year, requiring the company to make revenues of at least $4 million in 2005-06 and to have liquid assets of $24 million or more. [ + ]

Applying math and computers to the drug-discovery process, researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a method to predict protein separation behaviour directly from protein structure. This multi-scale protein modelling approach may reduce the time it takes to bring pharmaceuticals to market and may have significant implications for an array of biotechnology applications, including bioprocessing, drug discovery and proteomics, the study of protein structure and function.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has written to Novogen (ASX:NRT) after the company adopted the company's remuneration report based on a show of hands at its AGM in late October, despite receiving an overwhelming majority of proxies against the resolution. [ + ]

Unlisted Brisbane-based company Adipogen has raised a further AUD$2.25 million to support the development of a novel treatment for obesity. [ + ]

New Zealand medical device company BrainZ Instruments, which develops monitors for the detection of brain injury, has lodged a prospectus for an IPO to raise up to AUD$13 million on the ASX. [ + ]

Shares in German biotech firm Jerini fell as much as 6 per cent in their debut on Tuesday amid what traders said was a worsening climate for new listings in Frankfurt and scepticism about biotech offers. [ + ]

Chemists at the University of California, Riverside have synthesised a new class of carbenes - molecules that have unusual carbon atoms - that is expected to have wide applications in the pharmaceutical industry, ultimately resulting in a reduction in the price of drugs.

Sydney-based Life Therapeutics (ASX:LFE) has been awarded a contract worth US$4.7 million (AUD$6.29 million) to supply specialty plasma for the treatment and prevention of smallpox in the general population, and to counter bioterrorism. [ + ]

A team of Queensland researchers has developed a technology that reduces anxiety and distress during the treatment of burns and may act as a supplement for the use of sedatives for young children. [ + ]

Just over seven years ago, in August 1998, Dr David Wells of the Ruakua Research Centre in Hamilton announced the successful cloning of the last Enderby Island Cow, the last survivor of a the world's rarest cattle breed. [ + ]