After 21 years as Circadian's (ASX:CIR) founding chairman Sir Peter Derham retired at the conclusion of the company's AGM yesterday. Circadian managing director Leon Serry said that Sir Peter was stepping down because he's now 80 years of age. [ + ]

Stem Cell Sciences (AIM:STEM, SCS) has signed an exclusive agreement with Californian-based stem cells solutions provider Chemicon International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Serologicals Corporation (NASDAQ:SERO), for the manufacture and marketing of SCS' embryonic stem (ES) cell media to the research and drug discovery market. [ + ]

pSivida has secured US$15 million (AUD$20 million) in additional funding from a New York institutional investor to assist in the development of its platform technology BioSilicon. [ + ]

It would take only four years to completely replace today's farmed chickens with genetically modified breeds fully resistant to infection to avian influenza, according to a visiting British molecular virologist. [ + ]

Microbiologists from the University of Bradford in England believe they may be closer to developing a vaccine that can protect newborn babies from being infected by the common and potentially fatal bacteria Group B Streptococcus.

UK-based NeuroSolutions, the fully owned subsidiary of NeuroDiscovery (ASX:NDL), has signed its first Australian revenue contract with Perth-based biopharmaceutical company Alzhyme. NeuroSolutions' Alzheimer models will be used to investigate the potential of three Alzhyme peptides to impede the progression of the disease. [ + ]

Mimotopes, a wholly owned subsidiary of PharmAust (ASX:PAA), is to supply California-based life science technology group Invitrogen Corporation (NASDAQ:IVGN) with custom pre-clinical peptides for Invitrogen's customers worldwide. [ + ]

Prima Biomed (ASX: PRR) has entered into an agreement to sell all the assets of its subsidiary Arthron to Toronto-based private company Trillium Therapeutics. [ + ]

Sydney's Peptech (ASX:PTD) has appointed Dr John Chiplin as its new chief executive officer, effective January 2006. [ + ]

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and EvoGenix (ASX:EGX) have signed a deal to apply the antibody developer's EvoGene technology to optimise selected compounds from GSK's product pipeline. [ + ]

Melbourne drug developer Starpharma (ASX:SPL) has been awarded a US$20.3 million (AUD$26.4 million) contract from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), for the development of its HIV preventative product VivaGel. [ + ]

The annual Prime Minister's prizes for science and science teaching were awarded last night at Parliament House in Canberra. [ + ]

Protein chemists at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have produced a new freeze-dried form of Brisbane-based Tissue Therapies' (ASX:TIS) wound-healing technology VitroGro. [ + ]

Bermuda-based investment manager Orbis Mutual Funds has acquired a 12 per cent stake in Melbourne-based drug delivery company Acrux (ASX:ACR). [ + ]

Antisense Therapeutics (ASX:ANP) has produced positive results from a 'proof-of-concept' study of its second generation antisense drug ATL1101 to suppress the insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF-1R), which is under development as a cream for the topical treatment of the skin disorder psoriasis. [ + ]