Two cloned calves of a top breeding bull are being sold in Asia by Australian breeder RAB for almost $400,000 each. [ + ]

Perth biotech Chemeq Ltd (ASX: CMQ) has developed a new kind of antimicrobial that may revolutionise agriculture and reduce the development of drug-resistant bacteria. [ + ]

Agen Biomedical is putting an improved version of its 20-year-old cash cow out to graze in fresh pastures. [ + ]

Melbourne-based Metabolic Pharmaceuticals is claiming early phase clinical trial success with its new obesity drug. [ + ]

The London Stock Exchange is spruiking for business from Australian biotech companies who want to transmute their intellectual property into financial capital. [ + ]

Prima BioMed has commenced preliminary talks with several major drug companies over potential licensing options for its new anti-inflammatory compound,VIB 153. [ + ]

Melbourne-based biotech Clone International has distanced itself from a new Japanese study that casts doubt on the safety and usefulness of a cloning technique. [ + ]

One of IT giant IBM's key researchers was in Australia this week to tout the progress of the company's $US100 million Blue Gene project. [ + ]

Cerylid Biosciences has appointed a scientific advisory board made up of big players from the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors. [ + ]

A new proteomics research tool that looks like a bar fridge and costs a cool $500,000 is giving a handy competitive edge to Queensland's Institute of Molecular Bioscience. [ + ]

Optiscan Imaging's flexible confocal microscope technology is to be developed and commercialised by marketed by Asahi Optical in a $20 million deal. [ + ]

Newly listed drug discovery company Antisense Therapeutics has revealed it is tying up relationships with Australian and overseas institutes to develop its discovery pipeline. [ + ]

Australian biotech start-up Phenomix has closed a $US12 million deal with a first-tier Australian/US venture capital syndicate. [ + ]

Dr Walt Dunlap at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, in collaboration with Professor Yorihiro Yamamoto at the University of Tokyo, has discovered an enzyme adaptation that may one day enable humans to enjoy greater health in old age.

Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have discovered that the embryonic development of the first axis of an animal, which defines its inner and outer layers and is initiated by the entry of sperm into an egg, is intimately linked to a protein complex long known to be instrumental in cell division.