CSIRO Plant Industry has applied to the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) to conduct a field trial of gene-knockout rice varieties, as part of the national research organisation's contribution to the international 'Green Machine' functional genomics project. [ + ]

Melbourne's Acrux (ASX: ACR) has Adam Watkinson as its chief scientific officer. Watkinson is currently manager of drug delivery research and project manager at UK pharmaceutical company ProStrakan . [ + ]

Bioscience entrepreneurs, including Axon Instruments founder Alan Finkel and Fiona Wood and Marie Stoner of Clinical Cell Culture, have dominated the winners' circle at this year's ATSE Clunies Ross Awards. [ + ]

A preclinical trial of Metabolic Pharmaceuticals' (ASX:MBP) conotoxin peptide painkiller hints that if it makes it to the clinic, it could provide a health bonus for patients suffering chronic neuropathic pain. [ + ]

The US Patent Office has granted Perth biotech Phylogica's application for a patent on its technology for isolating biological modulators from its burgeoning library of gene fragments from "extremophile" microbes. [ + ]

The Australian Proteome Analysis Facility (APAF) is gearing up to launch its new Biomarker Discovery Laboratory and is already on the verge of signing a pharmaceutical company partner for a project. [ + ]

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.

Andrew Macdonald has resigned as chief financial officer at Melbourne-based Biota Holdings (ASX:BTA) and is taking up the CFO position at fellow biotech Cytopia (ASX:CYT). Cytopia is relocating its corporate HQ from Brisbane to Melbourne. Macdonald has given three months' notice at Biota. [ + ]

New Proteome Systems chief executive Stephen Porges (ASX:PXL) believes the company is caught in the middle of a typical biotech transformation from its original focus as a tools business to a diagnostics and therapeutics business -- which is where its real future lies. [ + ]

Strict new ethics rules imposed on National Institutes of Health staff to prevent lucrative deals with drug companies may be loosened if warranted, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt has said. [ + ]

Britain's SkyePharma is close to a deal on one of its lung drugs that could be worth US$160 million, the drug delivery firm has claimed, boosting its shares as it posted a narrower loss for 2004. [ + ]

A University of Sydney scientist has developed a software algorithm which improves the ability of the hearing-impaired to hear in noisy environments. [ + ]

A preliminary report by Australia's Productivity Commission has concluded that advances in medical science have benefited Australians, but have also been a major driver of increased spending on health. [ + ]

Keith Williams has stepped down from the helm of Proteome Systems (ASX:PXL), and the company has appointed strategic management specialist Stephen Porges as chief executive officer. [ + ]

Two Swiss drug developers have set out their stalls this month to test the market's remaining appetite for biotechnology IPOs, buoyed by the success of Swiss rivals and renewed investor interest in the battered drugs sector. [ + ]