Industry News
Avastra trial delayed
The clinical trial being run by Sydney biomaterials company Avastra (ASX:AVS) for its BioWeld device has been delayed by six months due to severe post-operative complications experienced by the first patient. [ + ]
Florey director reflects on a revolution in neuroscience
Eminent Melbourne neuroscientist Prof Fred Meldelsohn, director of Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute, is the Bethlehem Griffiths Research Foundation medallist for 2005. [ + ]
ARRM opts for voluntary receivership
Sources close to Adelaide-based Advanced Rapid Robotic Manufacturing have revealed that the company has gone into voluntary receivership. [ + ]
Non-viral vectors deliver genes
A gene therapy method that doesn't rely on potentially toxic viruses as vectors may be growing closer as the result of in vitro research results reported by University at Buffalo scientists in the current online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
[ + ]Select Vaccines licenses hepatitis E antibodies
Melbourne's Select Vaccines (ASX:SLT) announced today it has licensed serologicals company Upstate USA to market and distribute Select's five proprietary monoclonal antibodies to hepatitis E virus for research purposes. [ + ]
Feds to fund new human genetics advisory committee
The federal government has used the budget to announce that it will provide AUD$7.6 million over four years to establish and fund the activities of a new human genetics advisory committee. [ + ]
New tax relief could lure foreign biotech CEOs here
This week's federal budget contained a taxation measure designed to prime a 'brain siphon' that could help Australian biotechnology companies recruit experienced CEOs and other experienced senior executives from the US, Britain and Europe. [ + ]
Animal-friendly herbicide in development
Scientists at Monash University are researching an environmentally friendly alternative to herbicides that targets weeds but does not affect animals. This research could also lead to new treatments for the internationally alarming health issue of tuberculosis infection.
[ + ]Federal budget: nothing new for biotechnology
The federal budget, handed down on Tuesday night, makes no new commitments to science, with most of the money allocated simply honouring previous election promises. [ + ]
Back into the abyss: biotech hits funding crunch
Biotech companies which have failed to raise enough capital to see them through to the next funding cycle might expire as a funding drought sets in, and blame "shocking" market conditions for forcing them to abandon or change their plans. [ + ]
Bacterial genomes found lurking
When scientists finished sequencing the genomes of seven species of fruit fly last year, little did they know that they had also sequenced the genes of several bacteria that dwell undetected inside fruit fly embryos.
[ + ]Brain and Mind Institute receives $5 million
The federal budget has allocated AUD$5 million to Sydney University's Brain and Mind Research Institute, to go towards fitting out its new premises. [ + ]
Aussie to test spirulina in microgravity flight
A researcher from the Australian National University is about to take a flight in microgravity, to see whether the protein-rich blue-green alga Spirulina platensis is the Right Stuff as food for space travel. [ + ]
Novogen claims four-leaf result from cancer drug trial
Sydney oncology drug developer Novogen (ASX:NRT, NASDAQ:NVGN) can smell the clover across the width of the Pacific, after its Connecticut-based subsidiary Marshall Edwards (LSE AIM:MSH and NASDAQ:MSHL) reported outstanding preliminary results from a trial of its clover-derived cancer drug phenoxodiol. [ + ]
