Salary freezes, a reduction in voluntary superannuation fund contributions and modest job cuts in the United States are among several cost cutting measures underway at Axon Instruments to pare back its losses over the coming year. [ + ]

Until this week, Benitec (ASX: BLT) was a small, virtually unsung Queensland biotech company. But that changed at this week's Bio 2002 conference in Toronto, where the company showcased its gene silencing technology, which it claims will revolutionise gene control. [ + ]

The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) has called for public comment on two licence applications for Monsanto's GM cotton. [ + ]

Sydney bio-IT company BioLateral has won a three-month contract to help the Garvan Institute of Medical Research establish its $1 million Peter Wills Centre for Bioinformatics. [ + ]

The first custom-designed facility to conduct Phase I clinical drug trials in Queensland will be built as part of a new start-up company, Q-Pharm. [ + ]

Immune disease drug discovery company Cytopia has again joined forces with Californian life sciences group Chemicon International, this time to develop and commercialise recombinant protein kinases. [ + ]

Queensland is moving to ease the nasty shock felt by fledgling biotechs hatched in the tertiary sector's "sheltered workshop" environment when they encounter the cost of commercial office and lab space. [ + ]

Australian scientists with funding from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) are in danger of losing their rights to intellectual property resulting from their research. [ + ]

Scientists at the Centre for Legumes in a Mediterranean Climate (CLIMA) in Western Australia are using transgenic techniques to develop new varieties of legumes with resistance to viruses. [ + ]

Drug discovery company Promics has received a $2.5 million vote of confidence in its anti-inflammatory candidate PMX 53 from venture capital backers. [ + ]

An external inquiry will be held to investigate complaints made against University of NSW immunologist and renal specialist Prof Bruce Hall. [ + ]

Cbio announced at the Bio 2002 conference in Toronto that it had successfully manufactured its first drug, called Early Pregnancy Factor (EPF), and was on track to start its first clinical trials next year. [ + ]

Victoria's government has committed $2 million to a collaboration with Canada aimed at developing synchrotron beamlines. [ + ]

A spokesman for Queensland Premier Peter Beattie yesterday dismissed fears that a $486 million operating deficit in accrued accounts this financial year will affect funds promised for biotech projects. [ + ]

A laboratory for studying one of the great mysteries of the universe has opened at the University of Sussex in England.