Prof Doug Hilton, a researcher at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne, has been awarded this year's GlaxoSmithKline award for research excellence, for his work on cell signalling. [ + ]

In future, the tooth fairy may leave children something more than a silver coin in a glass of water, in exchange for their lost milk teeth. Researchers at the Hanson Institute in Adelaide believe pluripotent stem cells from those deciduous teeth could help sustain their owners’ dental, skeletal, neural and cardiovascular health well into the autumn of their lives. [ + ]

Two Sydney cancer patients have made medical history as the first individuals to be diagnosed with cancer induced by spontaneous silencing of an otherwise normal tumour-suppressor gene. [ + ]

Australian scientists believe it may be possible to grow replacement organs organically, by providing organ-building stem cells with a 3D template and leaving them to grow in situ, within the patient’s own body. [ + ]

Can an extract of shark cartilage and crustacean shells alleviate the pain and inflammation of symptoms of osteoarthritis, the most common disease of aging? It’s a multi-billion question that medical science has shown little interest in answering, according to Melbourne rheumatologist and osteoarthritis expert Dr Daniel Lewis. [ + ]

A team at CSIRO Tropical Ecosystems Research Centre in Darwin is getting an insight into how soil macro-invertebrates like termites, worms and ants help to maintain healthy country in the tropics. [ + ]

Australia's tropical research science and innovation efforts are scattered over the continent's top end, from north-western WA to north-eastern Queensland. And addressing the challenges created by that kind of dispersal have become a key priority for the chief scientists of Queensland and Western Australia, along with the Northern Territory's Bob Collins, in the wake of a recent forum in Darwin. [ + ]

A full roster of conferences in Australia and its Asia-Pacific neighbours make the region a good place to visit this year. To start with, Australia's BIO equivalent, AusBiotech2004, will this year be held in Brisbane from November 7-10, with a theme of 'Going Global'. [ + ]

Australia is home to a thriving and dynamic biotechnology industry with a firm footing in the world-class research base found in the universities and research institutions 'Down Under'. [ + ]

Proteomics, in which Australians are pioneers, can no longer be described as an emerging discipline, writes Graeme O'Neill. [ + ]

Australia's biotechnology industry is tiny by comparison with its US and European counterparts, but it offers glimpses of what a future in which most cancers will be curable, or ideally, preventable, writes Graeme O'Neill. [ + ]

When the Victorian Department of Agriculture's Werribee research farm advertised for a 'Semi-Dwarf Wheat Breeder' in the early 1970s, Bryan Whan applied -- his qualifications measured up, even if his height exceeded specification. [ + ]

From wine to wheat to mouse plagues, Australian life scientists are nothing if not creative in agricultural biotech, writes Graeme O'Neill. [ + ]

Positive forces are at work in Australian venture capital circles, writes Renate Krelle. [ + ]

The secret's out -- Australia is a great place to do clinical trials and contract research, as Renate Krelle discovers. [ + ]