For such a simple idea, it’s a surprise that no one has thought of it before. An automated system for streaking agar plates is on the market, developed here in Australia.

Physics and biology have come together to solve one of science’s big issues – the structure of membrane proteins – through the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coherent X-ray Science.

Deciphering vertebrate development, sorting out the roosters from the hens and taking on bird flu – dare we say, all in one fowl swoop – that is the job of CSIRO’s Dr Mark Tizard, who has created a new microRNA catalogue for the humble chook.

Rightly or wrongly, concerns over GM crops contaminating their non-GM kin have led to a stalemate in progress towards acceptance of GM crops and foods. We look at a new approach using gene silencing and gene imprinting.

US company Thermo Fisher Scientific has achieved a number of breakthroughs in RNAi technology in the last couple of years and says it has come up with another – a method for delivering siRNAs to all cells, even the tough ones.

Tom Gonda has taken a robotic approach to functional genomics.

Biochemical geneticist Kevin Carpenter discusses how he helped tracked down the blip in the Bindeez beads.