The Garvan Institute celebrated 40 years of sharp end research into cancer and associated diseases last week -- and in the process gained over $1million in research funds. [ + ]

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has opened his campaign to grab a slice of the spotlight for the State during Bio2003 by announcing the first investment by Australia’s largest biotechnology fund, the $100 million Queensland BioCapital Fund. [ + ]

The NSW government has taken the first step towards fulfilling its election pledge, with $205million on the table over the next four years as funding for the new peak cancer research organsation. [ + ]

Victorian company AGT Biosciences (formerly Autogen) has opened its AGT Biosciences Center for Human Statistical Genomics at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio, Texas. [ + ]

Norwood Abbey is in the midst of planning an international clinical trial examining the use of its Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone (GnRH) analogue drugs to revive the immune system in patients with HIV/AIDS. [ + ]

A renowned German technology marketing and commercialisation expert will be the coordinator and keynote speaker of a University of Adelaide technology course beginning later this month.

Perth nanotechnology company PsiVida announced that its British subsidiary PsiMedica has entered into a revenue sharing agreement with Texas Christian University (TCU) over an invention with applications in orthopaedics and tissue engineering. [ + ]

A $3.5 million dollar conditional contract with an Asian company could give startup Bio Pharma Pty Ltd the push it needs to move into commercial production. [ + ]

Biotech Peptech announced what it described as "outstanding" results from pre-clinical trials on its anti-Tumour Necrosis Factor (anti-TNF) antibody as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). [ + ]

Local biotech performers have overtaken the traditional basket of stocks by 13 per cent, showing a 27 per cent leap in prices, according to a report from stockbroking firm Intersuisse. [ + ]

Veterinary biotechnology company Imugene has completed a $AUD2 million placement to institutional and professional high net worth investors. [ + ]

One of the biggest ARC Linkage Project grants in the recent round has been awarded to University of Sydney microbiologist, Dr Liz Harry, to work with Australian proteomics pioneers, Proteome Systems, on bacterial proteomics. [ + ]

A Monash University study has found that the number of nephrons in a person's kidney increases with their birth weight, a finding that could explain why Indigenous Australians and African-Americans are at greater risk of kidney disease and high blood pressure.

More than $AUD73 million has been awarded to 11 research teams based in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland in the latest round of the NHMRC's program grants. [ + ]

Texan company Inguran has paid $US150,000 to Melbourne-based Genetic Technologies to use the company's non-coding patents for genetic testing of livestock in the USA, Colombia and Brazil. [ + ]