Perth-based cancer vaccine developer Australian Cancer Technology is gearing up to begin Phase II trials of its Pentrix anti-cancer vaccine after it was shown to be well tolerated and elicit an immune response in all 14 patients with a range of metastatic cancers involved in the Phase Ib/IIa study. [ + ]

Molecular tools for identifying the function of thousands of genes quickly and accurately will promote major advances in biotechnology and agriculture according to CSIRO researchers. Released by CSIRO Plant Industry, the tools - called gene-silencing vectors - allow high-throughput and highly efficient gene silencing.

Shares in Sydney-based biotech company Gradipore dipped sharply yesterday after the company announced a $AUD7.9 million loss for the December half of 2002. [ + ]

An ambitious project to knock-out the 25,000-plus genes of Arabidopsis one at a time using RNA interference (RNAi) is being developed by a European consortium headed by Ian Small at France's Unit‚ de Recherche en Genomique Vegetale (URGV) using a plasmid vector designed by CSIRO Plant Industry researchers to deliver hairpin RNA constructs. [ + ]

Adelaide biomed company Bionomics (ASX: BNO) has established a strategic research collaboration with the Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology and Medicine that it hopes will speed its development of new drugs for epilepsy and other brain disorders. [ + ]

Perth based devices company Xcell Diagnostics will finalise its acquisition of German company Visiomed this week, propelling Xcell into a leading position in skin cancer diagnostic instrumentation. [ + ]

Medical diagnostics company PanBio has capped a period of management and structural reorganisation by announcing sharply curtailed first-half losses but flat revenues. [ + ]

Dr Sue Forrest, the new head of the Australian Genome Research Facility, is keen to raise the facility's profile as a natural home for agricultural genomics as well as biomedical, she said today. [ + ]

New approaches mean there is still hope for an effective HIV vaccine, Australian researchers have said in the wake of today's release of disappointing AIDS vaccine results by US company VaxGen. [ + ]

With the increasing recognition of the importance of non-coding RNA in regulation and control of gene expression, it now appears there is much more to the genome than meets the eye. [ + ]

The NSW government has moved to improve the networking capabilities of the state's research centres by pledging $AUD1.45 million over four years to the creation of high-bandwidth networks. [ + ]

Perth-based Chemeq has announced that its polymeric antimicrobial product was capable of killing gastrointestinal cancer cells. [ + ]

The concept of extra dimensions, dismissed as nonsense even by one of its earliest proponents nearly nine decades ago, may soon help solve seemingly unrelated problems in particle physics, cosmology and gravitational physics, according to a panel of experts who recently assembled at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Denver.

Melbourne-based drug discovery company Amrad has rationalised its R&D portfolio, the company announced yesterday, with a renewed focus on five projects in the development and pre-clinical stage. [ + ]

Hamish Scott, of Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, was presented with the Eppendorf Award for Young Australian Researchers at this week's 24th Lorne Genome Conference. [ + ]