The biotech shake-up will intensify in 2003 but the horizon looks inviting on the far side of the wave of mergers expected to roll through the sector over the next 12 to 24 months. That's the view of Prof Peter Andrews, a leading member of the generation which has dramatically reshaped Australian bioscience in the last 15 years and a man who boasts a good track record in sculpting positive environments for young biotechs.

The land of the red 'roo is a long hop from just about everywhere else in the world, so travel costs loomed large in Dr Phil Batterham's analysis of the cost of staging the world's largest genefest in Melbourne next year.

It is fitting that John Craig Venter's boat is named Sorcerer II. The 56-year-old California surfer-turned-scientist has long relished the role of maverick wizard sent to bedevil the genomics establishment.

Next year, 2003 marks the 50th anniversary of an epochal moment in human history: Watson and Crick's solving of the double-helix structure of the DNA molecule. It's also the year that will bring many of the biggest names in world genetics to Melbourne for the 19th International Genetics Congress, among them at least three Nobel laureates, including James Watson, co-discoverer of the immortal coil, and an immortal of modern science in his own lifetime.

Coming off a gangbuster third quarter that yielded a $US50 million profit versus a $US101 million loss a year ago, Dell Computer Corp is finally starting to talk publicly about the life sciences. CEO Michael Dell says the company has been selling to drug discovery companies and research centres all along. The news is that latecomer Dell is starting to focus on several vertical markets, including the life sciences.

It seems appropriate that the global CEO of a company engaged in the visualisation business is inclined to look at the big picture. Apart from being larger-than-life in person, Silicon Graphics (SGI) chief Bob Bishop is one of those outspoken, opinionated CEOs journalists love - one who is prepared to talk outside the finite square of profits and bottom lines to offer a world view.

New techniques for generating large amounts of biology-related data have given IT vendors new momentum in penetrating this traditionally low-tech segment of scientific research, a key IBM researcher told attendees at AusBiotech 2002 in Melbourne last week.

Melanie Mitchell is a research computer scientist at the Santa Fe Institute, a New Mexico think tank specialising in emerging science. Her research interests include Intelligent systems and machine learning, complex systems, evolutionary computation and artificial life

On a recent visit to Sydney, IBM Life Sciences chief Caroline Kovac outlined her views on bio-IT, the life sciences and Australia's potential.