The inventor of the cochlear implant, Prof Graeme Clark, will use the AUD$300,000 cheque from the 2004 Prime Minister's Science Prize he was awarded this week to establish a $6 million professorial chair in medical bionics at his Bionic Ear Institute in Melbourne. [ + ]

Amrad (ASX:AML) spin-out Avexa is ready to list following shareholder approval of the demerger and the granting of Federal Court approval of the scheme of arrangement. [ + ]

Pennsylvanian anti-viral therapeutics developer Nucleonics has opened a new front, on Australian soil, in its battle with Brisbane biotech Benitec (ASX:BLT) and Australia’s national research agency, CSIRO, over ownership of key patents for the revolutionary gene-silencing technology called RNA interference (RNAi). [ + ]

University of Melbourne spin-off Cryptopharma has been awarded a AUD$1.5 million R&D Start grant to support its respiratory therapeutics program. [ + ]

A DNA tag for livestock -- a joint venture development between Brisbane biotechnology company Genetic Solutions and livestock management company Allflex -- has won recognition at the 2004 Premier of Queensland Smart Awards. [ + ]

Two years ago, GroPep (ASX:GRO) was in trouble, badly burned and without a CEO after an ill-advised acquisition of Biotech Australia. Now, it looks like a different company -- profitable, and turning its attention towards its biopharmaceutical development projects after a successful turn-around in its fortunes. [ + ]

The Therapeutic Goods Administration has heard renewed calls for a national system for tracking the safety of critical implants and devices. [ + ]

A report by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) following an 18-month inquiry into genetic patents has concluded that significant patent law reforms are needed to accommodate cutting-edge genetic technology. [ + ]

The company created by the merger between BresaGen's US-based stem cell therapy business and the San Diego based company Cythera has merged again with Novocell, a Californian company commercialising encapsulated cell technology for the treatment of diabetes and other diseases. [ + ]

Biosignal (ASX:BOS) will test its anti-bacterial compounds for activity against several species of oral bacteria, in a study that could open up a previously unexplored market niche for the company in the oral health sector. [ + ]

A patent win for confocal-miscroscope company Optiscan (ASX:OIL) in Japan will increase the company’s licensing revenues for the benchtop applications of its technology in Japan by up to AUD$400,000, according to Optiscan. [ + ]

Sunshine Heart is preparing to float on the ASX, launching a AUD$15 million IPO in Australia and New Zealand last week to raise funding to support its upcoming clinical trials. [ + ]

Bone Medical (ASX: BNE) today became the latest in a steady trickle of biotech companies to list on the ASX, making its debut at AUD$0.80, a substantial gain on its placement price of $0.60. [ + ]

A giant supercolony of Argentine Ants stretching across the Greater City of Melbourne has been discovered by Ms Elissa Suhr from the School of Biological Sciences at Monash University.

Living Cell Technologies (ASX: LCT) gained 25 per cent on its issue price to close at AUD$0.25 yesterday on its first day of trading on the ASX. [ + ]