Exhibitors on the Australian Pavilion at BIO 2008 in San Diego

Extra insurance for the Tasmanian devil announced as scientists fear for its future.

ReWire Therapies can probably boast one of the most impressive groups of company directors to be found in any biotechnology venture in Australia.

The genome of the Eucalyptus tree is to be sequenced.

Fucoidans are a family of polysaccharides that can act, amongst other things, as immunomodulators, selectin antagonists, viral attachment inhibitors and receptor blockers. And they are sourced directly from seaweed.

The Bio21 Molecular Medicine Informatics Model (Bio21:MMIM) is one of nine projects to share $19.4 million in recent funding from the Australian government under the Systemic Infrastructure Initiative (SII).

The Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science (ACROSS) at the University of Tasmania has opened a new million-dollar laboratory to develop and manufacture microfluidics chips capable of analysing samples thousands of times smaller than a drop of water.

A Royal Adelaide Hospital cardiovascular disease expert has told ABC-TV's current affairs program Four Corners that Merck & Co's anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx may have contributed to the deaths of many as 300 Australians from heart attack or stroke.

One of the legal myths of scientific research -- that using a patented invention is OK as long as that use is only experimental not commercial -- might just become reality later this year.

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.

Scientists from around the world have agreed to collaborate on sequencing the complete eucalyptus genome, and formed the International Eucalyptus Genome Consortium at a meeting held in Hobart last week.