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.

Drug delivery company OBJ (ASX:OBJ) claims to have reached an advanced stage in the development of its coin-sized smart drug patch.

Some of the biggest names in Australian science are among the big winners of more than AUD$100 million in National Health and Medical Research Council grants, announced on Wednesday.

State government policy has been vital in helping to shape the Australian biotechnology industry. Here, Cristy Burne takes us for a tour of Western Australia, the state that later this year will host the national biotech conference.

Western Australia's biggest private sector superannuation fund, Westscheme, has signed a AUD$15 million partnership with university based pre-seed venture fund Uniseed.

The 'H' in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) could stand just as well for Hydra, the multi-headed monster of Greek myth. By the time the human immune system has decapitated one strain of the virus, it has spawned a host of novel mutants. Mutants proliferate because natural selection endowed the virus with a dodgy reverse transcriptase enzyme that introduces random errors into the genetic blueprints of newly replicated virus particle.

Early Australian settlers evocatively dubbed fire 'the red steer' -- the untamed beast that rampaged through the bush, grazing it back to bare earth. 'Red prince' might have been more appropriate, because the smoke from bushfires delivers a potent chemical kiss that rouses the sleeping seeds of many native plants -- including many of Australia's most beauteous species -- to vibrant life.

When the Victorian Department of Agriculture's Werribee research farm advertised for a 'Semi-Dwarf Wheat Breeder' in the early 1970s, Bryan Whan applied -- his qualifications measured up, even if his height exceeded specification.

State of the art medicinal chemistry facilities were opened on the Murdoch University campus by the WA Minister for Development Clive Brown last week for biotech start up Epichem.

Despite a decrease in revenues and an increase in net loss to AUD$1.3 million, veterinary biotechnology company Imugene (ASX:IMU) has come a long way in its first year as a biotechnology company, according to chairman Graham Dowland, who said it was a "tremendous formative year."

Vet biotech Imugene is pinning big hopes on its recombinant gene-based flea control vaccine currently on trial at Murdoch University.