Search

The future of European Union funded embryonic stem cell research hangs in the balance after a heated debate at the European Parliament on Tuesday.

It may have started from a low base, but the Indian biotech industry is hurtling past the global growth rate. And overseas companies are anxious to get in on the action.

Indian firms are training large numbers of patent agents - with their eye on the large number of companies abroad looking for cheaper patenting.

The international treaty on plant genetic resources needs a gesture of trust to repair the atmosphere of suspicion that has developed, argues Emile Frison from the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute.

Biology Information Open Source's promoter, Richard Jefferson, asserts that BIOS is explicitly modelled after the Open Source initiative in software. But science is grounded in open exchange and the sharing of information, so what is the point of BIOS and other initiatives such as Science Commons?

Software agents could change the way that computing works. You just leave them to get on with the work.

Universities in Ireland can now bid for funds to beef up their knowledge transfer activities.

Every business has to issue a press release one day. When they do so, they should remember that jargon does not help get the message across.

In an earlier blog, I deplored the lack of data about the European IP market and in particular about the academic licensing business. I am delighted to report that my “bottle in the ocean” approach has produced results.

Advances in neuroscience are opening up the treatment options for central nervous system diseases - at the same time as the ageing population is increasing the market for these products.

Active Solar Buildings – entirely heated and cooled by solar thermal energy – should become the standard by 2030 if the vision of the EU’s latest Technology Platform is realised.

Drug companies finally have an incentive to carry out safety testing in children following new EU legislation approved last week.

The first protein drug extracted from the milk of a genetically modified animal has finally received European approval.

The TeGenero drug trial is complete, and an ongoing study is examing whether trial requirements should be changed. But, asks Nuala Moran, should the trial ever have been approved?

The Open Source software movement has broken the stranglehold of expensive, proprietary products. Could the same thing happen in biotechnology?

A group of researchers, led by Mark Pepys, at University College London has designed and chemically synthesised a new drug, which they have shown to reduce heart tissue damage following a heart attack.

Scientists from the University of Birmingham, UK, have powered a fuel cell from confectionary waste. They now want to form a consortium with investors and SMEs to apply for an EU Framework grant.

The Finnish developers of a new and tiny silicon-based timer circuit are looking for partners with application-specific engineering and marketing expertise to take the product further.

An unusual programme by the software giant to spin out its technology has netted nine sales to small companies - with more on the way.