Hospitals don't like to divulge how many surgical patients have been chronically infected by pathogenic, multi-drug resistant bacteria that haunt their surgical wards, but the problem is "major", according to Michael Oredsson, CEO and MD of Sydney biotech company Biosignal (ASX:BOS). [ + ]

Australian and New Zealand scientists have launched a AUD$1.4 million study funded by industry group Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) to map the genome of the sheep blowfly Lucilia cuprina, in a bid to better control and prevent flystrike in sheep. [ + ]

Some of the most contentious ethical issues such as face transplants, saviour siblings, as well as paternity and genetic testing will take centre stage at the World Congress of Bioethics being held at UNSW this month.

Gene silencing specialist Benitec (ASX:BLT) has raised AUD$2.75 million in a placement to institutions and 'sophisticated' investors in Australia and abroad, the company said today. [ + ]

Brisbane cancer-drug developer Peplin (ASX:PEP) has announced a renounceable rights offer to shareholders aimed at raising AUD$10.2 million for the first Phase II clinical trial of its lead skin-cancer molecule, PEP005. [ + ]

Epilepsy gene-hunter Bionomics (ASX:BNO) has announced a strategic alliance with gene-test specialist Genetic Technologies (ASX:GTG) under which GTG will market Bionomics' epilepsy tests worldwide. [ + ]

Cancer technology specialist Sirtex (ASX:SRX) has firmed new distribution deals in Israel and India for its targeted radioactive particle liver cancer treatment, SIR-Spheres, which has recently won regulatory approval in both markets. [ + ]

The Australian biotech sector's cash reserves totalled nearly three quarters of a billion dollars at the end of the 2003-2004 financial year, according to a report by biotech investment newsletter Bioshares. [ + ]

A study of 18 type 1 diabetes patients transplanted with insulin-secreting pancreatic islet cells from pigs more than a decade ago appears to have cleared away a major obstacle to transplanting pig cells, tissues and organs into seriously ill human patients. [ + ]

Pennsylvania-based anti-viral therapeutics developer Nucleonics is continuing its trench warfare with Brisbane RNAi therapeutics company Benitec (ASX:BLT) and CSIRO over the legitimacy of their key patents on RNA-mediated gene-silencing technology. [ + ]

Sydney's Children's Cancer Institute Australia (CCIA) has joined leading paediatric cancer institutes in the US including St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Duke University Medical Centre, and Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Centre to test new cancer drugs for the treatment of childhood cancers. [ + ]

Investors added more than AUD$1 -- or 20 per cent -- to Novogen's (ASX:NRT) share price today on the news that the company's subsidiary Marshall Edwards (Nasdaq: MSHL/LSE AIM:MSH) had been granted fast-track status for the use of phenoxodiol in recurrent ovarian cancer. [ + ]

Genzyme will pay Wyeth US$121 million in cash for buy back rights to sell arthritis drug Synvisc in the United States and Europe. Genzyme said additional payments could extend until June 2012 for total payments of US$294 million. [ + ]

Shire Pharmaceuticals has posted an expected rise in underlying third-quarter earnings, but its shares have fallen on disappointment it had still not closed a long-awaited deal to buy new medicines. [ + ]

By using a device only six-millionths of a meter long, researchers at Cornell University have been able to detect the presence of as few as a half-dozen viruses — and they believe the device is sensitive enough to notice just one. The research could lead to simple detectors capable of differentiating between a wide variety of pathogens, including viruses, bacteria and toxic organic chemicals.