Gene therapy shouldn't be abandoned: Australian researcher
15 January, 2003 by Graeme O'NeillThe US Food and Drug Administration this week suspended about 30 gene-therapy trials in the US after another 'boy in a bubble' patient in a French gene-therapy trial developed leukaemia. But Australian gene-therapy expert Assoc Prof Panos Ioannou said the setback did not mean gene therapy should be abandoned, or that it posed unacceptable risks.
CSIRO maths guru quits for private sector
20 December, 2002 by Pete YoungCSIRO is losing the services of one of the country's premier biostatisticians, Dr Mervyn Thomas, who is leaving to launch his own consultancy in the private sector.
New SA fund to help early-stage companies
13 December, 2002 by Melissa TrudingerA new biotech funding initiative in South Australia, the BioCatalyst Program Fund, will provide grants of up to $250,000 to start up and early stage companies to help them commercialise their ideas.
Genetic research joins centre of excellence roster
13 December, 2002 by Pete YoungGenetic research will occupy the focus of two of eight new centres of excellence which together will share almost $90 million in Federal funding over the next five years.
Gradipore touts US growth after gel range expansion
11 December, 2002 by Iain ScottSydney-based company Gradipore is predicting increased sales in its main US market after launching a new range of electrophoresis gels.
Data visualisation: See what you're doing?
11 December, 2002 by Pete YoungThe growing sophistication of data visualisation applications has been a boon for pharmaceutical and biotech researchers across the life and chemical sciences spectrum. Visualisation platforms help computational chemists to model molecules in drug discovery environments and genomic researchers to stitch useable information together from a confusing tangle of data held in different gene sequence databases.
Commercialisation: When institutes go to market
10 December, 2002 by David BinningAdvances in techniques for growing neurons, stem cell research, genetics, proteomics and massively improved capabilities in imaging are opening up previously undreamed-of avenues to treat sufferers of everything from epilepsy, stroke, chronic pain, multiple sclerosis, paralysis and psychosis.
Autogen promises free access to gene search tool
09 December, 2002 by Melissa TrudingerA bioinformatics tool developed by Melbourne company Autogen to search public domain gene databases for specific genes of interest will be made available to academic researchers for free.
Funding the festival
05 December, 2002 by Graeme O'NeillThe land of the red 'roo is a long hop from just about everywhere else in the world, so travel costs loomed large in Dr Phil Batterham's analysis of the cost of staging the world's largest genefest in Melbourne next year.
Genetic Technologies chief defends Myriad deal
03 December, 2002 by Melissa TrudingerGenetic Technologies' executive chairman Dr Mervyn Jacobson is surprised and disappointed by recent criticism of the deal he brokered with US genetic testing giant Myriad Genetics.
INTERVIEW: A Graves future for the marsupial genome
27 November, 2002 by Graeme O'NeillThe world now has detailed gene catalogues, maps and DNA sequences for two distantly related eutherian mammals: the mouse, Mus musculus, a rodent, and a large-brained African primate, Homo sapiens. Where to now? Prof Jenny Graves believes that, to achieve the maximum yield about the deep genetic history of the world's mammals, it should be a marsupial -- specifically, a kangaroo.
Laws of uncertainty
19 November, 2002 by David BinningWhile scientific discovery is often regarded as absolute, the rules of law seem much more fluid, governed by a mish-mash of regulations and precedents across myriad jurisdictions ensuring that even success in gaining patents or defending intellectual property in court is no long-term guarantee in biotech.
Bio21 ramps up
18 November, 2002 by Melissa TrudingerMelbourne's Bio21 project looks to be back on track with a restructured board, a newly approved business plan and orders in for some key new equipment.
INTERVIEW: Seven days in July
14 November, 2002 by Graeme O'NeillNext year, 2003 marks the 50th anniversary of an epochal moment in human history: Watson and Crick's solving of the double-helix structure of the DNA molecule. It's also the year that will bring many of the biggest names in world genetics to Melbourne for the 19th International Genetics Congress, among them at least three Nobel laureates, including James Watson, co-discoverer of the immortal coil, and an immortal of modern science in his own lifetime.
Biotech looks for bipolar genes
12 November, 2002 by Graeme O'NeillGeneticists have nothing to show after more than a decade hunting for genes involved in bipolar disorder, or manic depression -- even in depression-haunted families in Iceland, and among Pennsylvania's Amish, the quarry has remained elusive. But a Sydney research team believes it may have cornered a gene that causes susceptibility to manic depression that could provide the long-sought entry point into the biochemical maze underlying the disorder.
