Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane has warned the Australian biotechnology industry that it still has a lot of work to do to win over the public.

The AUD$20 million flagship project of Tasmania's Intelligent Island initiative funded by the Australian Government and jointly managed with the state government -- the Tasinformatics Centre of Excellence at the University of Tasmania -- is due to get off the ground in the coming weeks, once final negotiations between the university and the state government have been completed.

Medical researchers must accelerate the pace of discoveries, make better use of all types of data, and collaborate more across disciplines, Dr Elias Zerhouni, director of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), has urged.

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has formed the Social and Behavioural Research Branch (SBRB) to develop ways to translate discoveries from the Human Genome Project into methods of health promotion and disease prevention, and to counsel patients coping with genetic disorders.

The federal government made a decision more than a year ago not to take up an option to extend its contract with CSL for the supply of blood plasma products to Australian hospitals for another five years.

The British government said it might be possible to relax or abolish price and profit controls on branded prescription medicines in the UK.

A team of scientists and university administrators from the University of Technology, Sydney, has returned from a world tour that established new contacts and showcased the University's research activities.

As well as the many clinical research projects looking for cures and better treatments, a major emphasis in stemming the level of adult-onset diabetes in Australia lies in education and awareness.