US pharma Cephalon has increased its interest in delivery biotech Sirtex up to 41 per cent with the acquisition of just under 8,800,000 shares from founder Dr Bruce Gray. [ + ]

Australia's deepest pool of tropical marine scientists will receive $AUD5 million in fresh funding thanks to this week's federal budget. [ + ]

Melbourne University proteomic research has indicated a possible link between oral hygiene and heart disease. [ + ]

Recent events in the Australian manufacturing sector have raised the focus upon end-to-end quality assurance requirements and how the transparency of plant floor operations affects boardroom decision-making.

Listed biotech Agenix is ringing in changes to bolster its current blood diagnostics business while promoting the progress of its intended next-generation product, the Thromboview blood clot-imaging agent. [ + ]

The structure of a key energy-releasing enzyme found in all animals is designed to minimise free radical production, an international team of researchers has revealed.

A row is brewing between the Royal College of Pathologists Australasia and Genetic Technologies, the Melbourne-based biotechnology company that last year obtained an exclusive license to offer Myriad Genetics' BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast cancer susceptibility tests in Australia and New Zealand. [ + ]

Following intense activity around the globe, researchers have identified critical aspects of the SARS genome -- and now the race is on to file patents. [ + ]

UNSW engineering student David Snowdon is the NSW winner of the 2002/2003 Siemens Prize for Innovation, one of the country's richest awards offered within the tertiary engineering sector.

Researchers at The Burnham Institute in the US have found that humanin, a small, 24-amino acid protein recently discovered in studies of Alzheimer's Disease, suppresses activation of the protein Bax. Bax triggers pathologic cell death in a number of diseases, including Parkinson's, stroke, heart attack and degeneration of ovaries during menopause. These results suggest a novel target for therapeutic design based on inhibiting the cell destructive activity of Bax.

Australia's agribiotechnology industry has reluctantly accepted the Victorian government's decision to impose a 12-month voluntary moratorium on growing Australia's first commercial crops of genetically modified (GM) canola in Victoria. [ + ]

Perth entrepreneur Farooq Khan is maintaining a stiff upper lip in the aftermath of his failed bid for a board seat on Biota Holdings. [ + ]

Melbourne-based Amrad has granted an exclusive license to Swiss/US company Serono to develop and commercialise emfilermin for use in reproductive health indications, under an option in the original partnership between the two companies. [ + ]

Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute are devising a stem-cell-based approach designed to prevent the development of type 1 diabetes in susceptible individuals by engineering the haematopoietic stem cells to express proinsulin after differentiation into antigen presenting cells. [ + ]

Both Monsanto and Bayer CropScience have agreed to the Victorian State government's 12-month moratorium on the commercial release of GM canola in Victoria, which was announced by Minister for Agriculture Bob Cameron today. [ + ]