Farooq Khan must be quietly seething. Biota has just appointed a director, Andrew Tyndale, from the ranks of new majority shareholder Babcock & Brown. [ + ]

Melbourne's protein crystallographers have received a boost with the recent acquisition of a $AUD720,000 X-ray Crystallography generator system at the Austin Research Institute (ARI). [ + ]

Vet biotech Imugene is pinning big hopes on its recombinant gene-based flea control vaccine currently on trial at Murdoch University. [ + ]

Monash University is to receive almost half of $44 million awarded to Victorian researchers by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).

Cashed-up young biotech Genetraks Pty Ltd is investing more than $1 million to dramatically accelerate the time to market of its gene-based diagnostic and monitoring tools. [ + ]

One of Australia's newest start-up companies has spun out of Monash University with a focus on finding therapeutics targeting the macrophage inhibitory factor (MIF). [ + ]

Local hero of the proteomics world, Proteome Systems, is looking to expand both into the drug production arena, and into the overseas acquisition fold. [ + ]

Two dedicated market watchers have decreed that it is time for an upturn in the biotech sector, not just in the US but in Australia too. But local fund managers may not yet have the ticker to make it happen. [ + ]

In a deal described by its authors as a "seven figure agreement", manufacturer Bio-Rad Laboratories is to link with the Australian Proteome Analysis Facility (APAF) to develop products and training tools for the proteomics market. [ + ]

African plant geneticist Dr Florence Wambugu has accused Western activists, seeking to block the introduction of genetically modified (GM) crops in Africa, of having “no understanding” of the needs of African farmers and communities. [ + ]

Adelaide company GroPep and cell culture reagent distribution partner CSL have amended their sales and distribution agreement to reflect expected demand for GroPep's growth factor products by extending the agreed minimum sales targets from the 2005-2006 financial year through to the end of the 2010 financial year, when the agreement ends. [ + ]

“Monash is making a major commitment to the commercialisation process. We have gone out on a limb in many ways, in doing what we have done.” [ + ]

Novogen’s US-based licensee The Solae Company has filed patent infringement suits against two of America’s biggest dietary and health supplement makers. [ + ]

The rapid and low cost analysis of air, water, vegetation, pork and even Viagra tablets using near infra-red rays were just a few of the topics discussed at a recent meeting in Spain of international scientists, including Charles Sturt University (CSU) Professor Graeme Batten.

The University of Melbourne has moved to position itself at the forefront of nanoscience and nanotechnology research - the 21st century frontier domain of microscopically small designer particles and devices.