A US foundation that sponsors research into Huntington's disease has turned to Sydney proteomics company Proteome Systems to search for prognostic markers and targets for drugs to treat the fatal neurodegenerative disorder. [ + ]

Select Vaccines (ASX:SLT) is planning to raise up to AUD$1.8 million in a private placement to support its R&D programs. [ + ]

Meditech (ASX:MTR) will enrol an additional 12 patients in its Phase II trial, following promising early results from its HyCAMP treatment for advanced colorectal cancer patients at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. [ + ]

Cell therapy company Living Cell Technologies (LCT) is planning to list on the ASX in the next few months, after completing a rights issue which will provide it with AUD$4.8 million cash and the ability to upgrade from its current listing on the Newcastle Stock Exchange (NSX:LCT). [ + ]

A study by Melbourne scientists has provided the first direct evidence that differences in the way the surface of the human brain is folded could be an indication of how smart a person is.

Melbourne-based Optiscan Imaging (ASX:OIL) has emerged from a quiet patch with the first results from a series of clinical studies using its flexible endomicroscopes. [ + ]

Some tartan-clad angels -- and a need to be closer to European customers -- are behind a decision by Melbourne-born company Stem Cell Sciences to relocate its headquarters to Edinburgh. [ + ]

Australia must compete against ferocious international competition in biotechnology research and development by "reducing fragmentation and building critical mass," the University of Sydney's Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) told the National Press Club in Canberra recently.

Australia's first licences allowing research using excess human embryos were issued today by the National Health and Medical Research Council's embryo research licensing committee. [ + ]

Prima Biomed (ASX:PRR) has been cheered by clinical trial results from commercial partner Biomira. [ + ]

Idiosyncratic researchers who are stubbornly out of step with the fashions of science may be among Australia's more valuable assets when it comes to building a successful life science industry, an Australian Venture Capital Association briefing in Sydney heard today. [ + ]

Can an extract of shark cartilage and crustacean shells alleviate the pain and inflammation of symptoms of osteoarthritis, the most common disease of aging? [ + ]

Perth-based nanotechnology company pSivida (ASX: PSD) has raised $21 million in an international placement - enough cash to see the company through to 2006, when it expects its first revenues. [ + ]

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. [ + ]

Breast-fed babies arouse more readily from deep sleep, Monash researchers have found, in a discovery that could help reduce deaths due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).