Researchers at Loughborough University in England aim to develop advanced tailor-made implants for people requiring facial reconstructive surgery.

The biotech industry has for many years worked to find ways of efficiently filtering valuable bio-process products on an industrially economic scale. The challenge has been to push throughput rates up without causing high shear rates and resultant cell lysis (splitting or decomposition) that would cause loss of yield. High shear can destroy delicate and valuable biological materials such as proteins, blood, algae and yeasts - and also brings with it a requirement for higher flow rates, which in turn raises pumping costs.

The sixth and final round of the federal government's Biotechnology Innovation Fund (BIF) grants has been announced, with AUD$11.8 million going to 51 biotechnology companies around Australia. [ + ]

Relaxed at the helm of his 95-foot yacht - the Sorcerer II -- on a brilliant Sydney morning, scientist and sailor J Craig Venter has started the Australian leg of his bid to circumnavigate the globe, sampling, sequencing and identifying microorganisms as he goes. [ + ]

The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) and industry group AusBiotech will put together a committee to oversee the continued development and uptake of voluntary ASX reporting guidelines released earlier this year. [ + ]

Phosphagenics (ASX:POH) has raised £1.75 million (AUD$4.3 million) through a placement of about 18 million shares in the UK. [ + ]

Pharmaxis (ASX:PXS) has raised AUD$16.5 million in an oversubscribed placement to institutional and sophisticated investors in Australia. [ + ]

Amrad (ASX:AML) and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research have strengthened their collaboration for the development of vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF-B), which has potential applications in cancer and cardiovascular disease. [ + ]

Following its recent announcement of a successful Phase III trial of the successful completion of a Phase III clinical trial for its asthma diagnostic and treatment management tool Aridol, Sydney's Pharmaxis (ASX:PXS) has entered a trading halt -- to be lifted tomorrow morning -- pending the announcement of details of a placement and share purchase plan. [ + ]

Portland Orthopaedics CEO David Sekel told a recent gathering of the Australian Venture Capitalists Association that the company's rush to prepare for an IPO last year -- a process which did not come to fruition -- had been premature, and that a trade sale was now an attractive option. [ + ]

A survey on the public perception of stem cell research suggests that how research is funded and who conducts it are more important to individuals than religious beliefs. [ + ]

Researchers from the Queen Mary Hospital in London have said the Roche's neuraminidase inhibitor Tamiflu (oseltamivir) is effective against avian and human forms of the virus, which has so far killed 32 people this year. [ + ]

Facing a human and economic catastrophe, and with the Beijing Olympics less than four years away, the Chinese government has struck a unique deal with a small, Sydney-based company, NarHex Life Sciences, to fast-track clinical trials of one of the world's most promising new AIDS drugs. [ + ]

Cryptome (ASX:CRP) chairman Graham Kelly offered shareholders few clues about reasons behind the resignation of CEO Jeffrey Travis at today's annual general meeting, but the company has announced the appointment of Prof Mathew Vardas as acting CEO. [ + ]

The life sciences sector once again received the largest slice of US venture capital investment in Q2 of 2004, according to a survey of the professional venture capital community. Investments in the sector amounted to US$1.26 billion -- 29 per cent of all venture capital invested. [ + ]