Exhibitors on the Australian Pavilion at BIO 2008 in San Diego

Mass spectrometry expert appointed new CEO of the Australian Research Council.

The CSIRO is sponsoring a session on biomaterials and regenerative medicine at BIO2007. Kate McDonald spoke to CSIRO's theme leader for the area, Keith McLean, about this competitive but challenging field.

A new $12 million electromaterials centre based at the University of Wollongong aims to create the materials needed for the next generation of bionic ears, artificial muscles and nerve repairs.

Melbourne and California-based ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals (ASX:CXS) has been awarded two linkage project grants worth AUD$525,000 in cash from the Australian Research Council (ARC) over the next three years.

Eleven new ARC centres of excellence and 24 federation fellowship receipients will share $162 million in federal government funding.

Melbourne is to be home to the world's first centre for medical bionics and hearing science, the brainchild of bionic-ear inventor Prof Graeme Clark.

Several Australian biotechs, including Novogen, Proteome Systems, Starpharma and Ventracor, were winners in the second round of Australian Research Council (ARC) linkage grants, announced earlier this month.

Her 30-year career has taken her from Sydney to Wales to South Africa, from biology at Wollongong to nuclear science at Australia's only research reactor. And now Prof Helen Garnett has a new challenge, as vice-chancellor of the Northern Territory's new Charles Darwin University.