The big names in the world of rice genomics will gather in Adelaide this August for the International Society of Plant Molecular Biology (ISPMB) congress. Kate McDonald spoke to CSIRO Plant Industry's Dr Narayana Upadhyaya about progress in his field, rice functional genomics.

Pioneering CSIRO plant molecular geneticist Dr Jim Peacock, has been appointed Australia's chief scientist, in the wake of the resignation of Dr Robin Batterham after six years in the job.

The Western Australian government is committed to developing the state's biotechnology sector, according to new premier Alan Carpenter, who this week announced AUD$4.5 million in seed funding for a new biotech research facility as well as medical grants totalling $5 million.

International science journal Nature Biotechnology has taken the Western Australian agriculture minister Kim Chance to task for funding a supposedly independent study of the health effects of genetically modified food crops by an Adelaide research institute renowned for its anti-GM activism.

Federal and state MPs are to get an insight into Australian genetic and genomic research capabilities and opportunities, at a national forum to be held in Canberra in February.

CSIRO Plant Industry researchers have abandoned a project to develop a genetically modified field pea with resistance to the pea weevil, Bruchus pisorum.

The legal mists are lifting from Black Mountain in Canberra, and Mountain View in California, clarifying the ownership of key patents on RNA interference (RNAi) gene silencing technology.

Wheat stem rust, an inexorable pathogen of Australia's wheat belt since 1925, is destined to be run over by the genetic equivalent of a four-decker bus.

The legal mists swirling the issue of ownership of key patents to RNA-induced (RNAi) gene silencing are lifting, with the US Patent Office granting CSIRO a patent for its Hellsgate family of vectors for exploring and manipulating gene function in plants and animals.

Melbourne-based novelty flower developer Florigene is planning the first field trial of its genetically modified roses carrying the company's proprietary 'blue gene' technology.

In the nick of time, climatically speaking, an Australian National University research team has cloned a plant gene that could markedly increase water-use efficiency in major food crops, including cereals.