Immunologists at Melbourne's Austin Research Institute have made a major discovery about the functioning of the immune system, which could revolutionise vaccine development. [ + ]

What is said to be Australia's first semi-commercial facility for producing 'sequel drugs' -- re-engineered versions of insulin, steroids, and asthma medications among others -- was opened today in Sydney by Prof Martin Silink, president-elect of the International Diabetes Federation. [ + ]

Canberra biotech company Biotron (ASX:BIT) has published the results of its SARS virus ion channel research in the journal Virology. [ + ]

Genentech has announced that its chief financial officer, Lou Lavigne, will retire next March and will be replaced by David Ebersman, currently senior vice president of product operations. [ + ]

Results of a Phase II study have shown that a monoclonal antibody targeting interleukin-12 (IL-12) p40 protein is safe and may induce clinical responses and remissions in patients with active Crohn's disease. [ + ]

Sydney-based animal-health products developer Imugene (ASX:IMU) is on track to bring home the commercial bacon with its new virally-vectored vaccine against the 'mystery swine disease' that struck the US pig industry in the early 1980s. [ + ]

Sydney medical technology company Sunshine Heart Ltd (ASX:SHC) has chosen cloudy Auckland as the venue for a long-term clinical trial that should gladden -- and reinforce -- the failing hearts of six patients. [ + ]

Cygenics (ASX: CYN) subsidiary Cytomatrix has entered into a collaboration with Cell Therapies, the commercial arm of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre's Centre for Blood Cell Therapies, to test the company's T cell production technology in human clinical trials. [ + ]

Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane has warned the Australian biotechnology industry that it still has a lot of work to do to win over the public. [ + ]

The drug-discovery industry -- pharma and biotech alike -- will suffer a sea-change as the age of personalised medicine begins, said Steve Burrill at Monday's opening of the 2004 AusBiotech conference in Brisbane. [ + ]

Researchers at University of Hamburg in Germany have provided a glimpse of the future of oilseed crops, by modifying the oil-synthesis pathways in flax to synthesise low levels of health-boosting omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in its seeds. [ + ]

Researchers at New Zealand's HortResearch Crown Research Institute are using insect smell receptors to develop biosensors that act as an artificial nose, capable of detecting volatile compounds. [ + ]

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.