A vaccine for coeliac disease is the focus of a joint venture between the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Melbourne Health and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), in a project that has the backing of international VC group BTG International. [ + ]

Melbourne biotech EpiTan Ltd (ASX: EPT) has announced "outstanding" results from the Phase IIb clinical of its experimental tanning drug Melanotan - and says the data could be the subject of new patent applications. [ + ]

After several tumultuous days that saw almost the entire board of directors replaced, bio-separations company Gradipore said today that it plans to focus on commercialising its technology for large-scale separations. [ + ]

Your nose could provide the first reliable diagnostic tool for predicting a person's likelihood of developing psychosis, new research has found.

Perth-based tissue engineering company Clinical Cell Culture (C3, ASX: CCE) has signed distribution agreements with Equipmed to distribute C3's CellSpray and ReCell products in Australia, excluding Western Australia, and New Zealand. [ + ]

If you'd asked him a year ago whether he could see himself as CEO of Amrad, Dr Peter Smith would have said not likely. [ + ]

Diagnostics company Panbio has announced a strategic alliance with Canadian-based medical diagnostics instrumentation group Adaltis to develop automated diagnostic products. [ + ]

Just weeks after a new CEO was appointed, embattled bioseparations company Gradipore has lost almost its entire board of directors in a shareholder-driven rebellion against the management of the company. [ + ]

CSIRO Plant Industry's leader of cotton research in Narrabri NSW, Dr Greg Constable, is Australia's smartest scientist, according to The Bulletin magazine.

Ventracor (ASX: VCR) has implanted its "artificial heart" device into a third patient as part of the pilot trial being conducted at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. [ + ]

Sydney-based devices company AtCor Medical is readying itself to make a major push into the US market with its range of cardiovascular diagnostic devices. [ + ]

Virax (ASX:VHL) has received approval from the US State Department to participate in a collaboration to develop a modified smallpox vaccine. [ + ]

Scientists at Melbourne's Peter MacCallum Cancer Research Centre have demonstrated an ingenious strategy for boosting and focusing the body's immune defences that causes dramatic regression of tumours in mice. [ + ]

Prima BioMed (ASX:PRR) subsidiary Arthron believes it has found a new way of blocking the inflammatory reaction responsible for the crippling autoimmune disease rheumatoid arthritis. [ + ]

Benitec (ASX:BLT) has developed technology allowing simultaneous disabling of multiple genes through RNA interference. [ + ]