The convergence of nanotechnology with biotechnology will be one of the hot topics of AusBiotech 2006. Dr John Kapeleris takes a look at recent developments in nanotechnology and how they may be put to use in the biotech world.

The Agricultural Biotechnology International Conference (ABIC) is being held in Melbourne this year, bringing with it such names as Alan Colman, Jennifer Thomson and Robert Wall. With Australia's economy still so reliant on the land, Graeme O'Neill takes a look at what our neighbours across the pond can teach us about harnessing the power of biotechnology in agriculture.

US artificial heart firm HeartWare (ASX:HTW) has successfully commenced its animal studies by implanting its Miniaturised Ventricular Assist Device (MVAD) in a calf.

When asked about Avexa's (ASX:AVX) successful in-licensing of HIV drug AVX754 from UK company Shire Pharmaceuticals, Avexa's CEO, Julian Chick, likes to use the following anonymous quote: "How did a little Australian company with no proven ability in-license a phase II drug from a specialty pharma?"

When Diana Hill went looking for significant new commercial opportunities in New Zealand's meat industry, she decided she'd better get down and dirty, so she spent a month in a meat processing plant asking where the hell the next billion dollar business was.

The Australian Proteome Analysis Facility (APAF) is gearing up to launch its new Biomarker Discovery Laboratory and is already on the verge of signing a pharmaceutical company partner for a project.

A new environment for pharmaceutical companies is on the horizon and it will be the fittest who survive, predicts Ian Nisbet.

'Nanotechnobabble' is already making life difficult for bio-nanotechnology researchers, with technophobes warning of the risk of uncontrollable, self-replicating nanobots overrunning the world, the Lorne Conference on Protein Structure and Function at Phillip Island, in Victoria, heard today.

The Australian Proteome Analysis Facility (APAF) has teamed up with Californian proteomics company LumiCyte (LCI) to further develop LCI's recently launched STS biochip platform.

At a recent conference in Sydney, biotechs and big pharma came together to explore how they should work together. Renate Krelle was there.

Fresh from setting a record for performance among supercomputers just a few days ago, IBM has announced it is making a commercial version of its Blue Gene system available to be aimed at businesses and scientific researchers.