The grants are part of 66 conservation projects to receive funding in the latest round of Government Biodiversity Funds.

“These projects are great examples of where the Government works with landowners to protect our native plants, animals and their habitats in areas outside of public conservation lands,” Ms Wilkinson says.

“It’s great news for these land owners to receive during Conservation Week 2012.”

The landowners of Duvauchelle Peak have worked with the Banks Peninsula Conservation Trust to protect the 18 hectares into a private reserve. A $32,624 grant will be used to fence the area to protect it from grazing and keep stock out of the headwaters of the community water supply.

A $2,745 grant for Kowai Bush – which is protected by a private reserve and QEII covenant – will assist the landowners to control animal pests such as possums, rats, mice, stoats and ferrets and protect the forest and native birds, bats, lizards and insects.

“Controlling pests at Kowai Bush will result in flow-on benefits for the nearby DOC-managed Lords Bush by enhancing bird-life in both areas.”

“In both these cases the landowners are doing their best to look after the native biodiversity on their land. With the fund we are able to give them a helping hand.”

A $6,208 grant will survey a population of the rare heart-leaf kohuhu at Okains Bay, previously thought to be locally extinct.

“This plant was first recorded in New Zealand on Banks Peninsula in 1844 and was rediscovered there this year, over 170 years later. These Canterbury plants are nationally important as the reference population for the species.”

The next Biodiversity Fund bidding round opens on 1 February 2013 for a month.

For further information see: www.doc.govt.nz/biodiversityfunds

To roll out the product it will establish a laboratory, under US federal regulatory standards, in Pennsylvania. The laboratory under Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments standards will provide the infrastructure to deliver Pacific Edge’s other products to the US marketplace, reported Stuff New Zealand.

The company made the announcement after it suspended the trading of its shares this morning to complete a placement of shares.

Commenting on the investment, Chief executive David Darling said the company was seeing good support for a book build for a placement of shares with institutional and habitual investors.

There are two components to the capital raising, including a placement to institutional and habitual investors of 23 million shares at 22 cents apiece to raise $5.1 million, with placement shares eligible to participate in an entitlement offer, reported Stuff.

The placement component of the raising has been completed, the company said through the NZX. The new shares are expected to be settled on August 3.

According to Stuff, the second part of the raising is an entitlement offer of 3 new shares for every 7 existing shares to all shareholders at 19 cents to raise $15.9-$16 million. The company is supported in the capital raising by First NZ Capital Securities and its director of investment banking Dave Watt.

Pacific Edge is a New Zealand based biomedical company specializing in the discovery and commercialization of diagnostic and prognostic technology for the early detection and monitoring of cancer.

Two products have recently completed successful clinical trials, bladder cancer detection and colorectal cancer prognosis (CRC). The bladder cancer technology Cxbladder® has been released to the market in Australia and New Zealand. CRC is being readied for commercial release. Pipeline products still in development include gastric and endometrial cancers and melanoma.

Cxbladder® is a non-invasive, accurate test that enables the early detection of bladder cancer from a small volume of urine providing general practitioners and urologists with a quick, cost effective and accurate measure of the presence of the cancer and provides urologists with the opportunity to reduce their reliance on the need for invasive tests such as cystoscopy.

Genesis Research and Development Corp. is an Auckland based biotechnology firm for which it is reported that the May Wang’s company paid an estimated $446,278 for. According to the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Stephen Hall, the investment amount was raised by Genesis from the group of investors represented by UBNZ via the placement of 7.4 million shares at 6c per share and expected to raise more capital from them.

Hall said that UBNZ had approached Genesis Research and Development Corp. over the investment and the company would be seeking shareholder approval if it decides to take a bigger stake in Genesis, as it had already signaled through its interest.

UBNZ is made up of Chinese investors that are currently on a quest to purchase about $1.5 billion of New Zealand dairy farms, amongst them those belonging to the failed Crafar farming operation.

The Chinese investors in UBNZ are led by May Wang, a controversial businesswoman with debt worth $22 million she owes her creditors from her collapsed property development company.  However, Hall said the company saw no problems with May, noting that, whereas she has had her financial woes in the past, Ms May is an intelligent and astute individual and is currently moving forward with her businesses.

Hall’s company as well reported that it was evaluating the potential in Dairy industry product development and research, to build on Genesis’ work in immunology and inflammation.

Speaking during an interview, Hall noted that such investments are more orienting to shorter term, lower risk projects and are more product centered. Traditionally, Genesis Research and Development has centered its production on human health, but with lots of research into agricultural biotech, out of which it has had some products it considered of economic interest.

In May, Genesis announced the closure of operations in New Zealand, resulting in the loss of nine jobs due to financial hiccups after making investments in a high risk sector, experiencing the slump in the global financial markets. Hall was pleased with the UBNZ investment as it allows Genesis to continue its New Zealand operations. Genesis was in discussions with possible investors in its Solirna Biosciences, to allow further development of its genetic technology. Other Genesis assets would be retained until value could be realized for shareholders, he said.

This announcement comes after last month’s decision by the company to suspend its operations in New Zealand, resulting in the loss of nine jobs after funding dried up in what the company considered a high risk sector that was then experiencing the decline of the global financial meltdown. However, the company was not considering delisting from either the New Zealand or the Australian stock exchanges, with most of its 2000 shareholders being New Zealand small retail investors.

The change in plans does not mean the company abandons altogether its offshore operations as it still has the option of using an overseas lab for some of its work. Mr. Halls added that the company’s previous position was to cease operations in the country but with the new placement and opportunities, the company may resume its New Zealand operations. The company however did not disclose the new investor, saying the investor’s identity was confidential.

Currently, Genesis is in discussion with the new investor over the possible future focus of research and development efforts and the financing required. After the discussions are finished, the company will present a proposal to its shareholders for approval of any direction the company will take and the issuance of shares to the new investors as well.

Genesis Research and Development further confirmed that it was still looking for new investors in its Solirna Biosciences to enable it further develop its genetic technology. Even so, the company’s other assets will be retained till value is realized for shareholders, he said. According to him, the company was pondering whether to center its investments on shorter term prospects with lower risks, instead of the long term, high risk, expensive research it currently undertakes.

The company has traditionally centered on human health, but with a lot of research in agricultural biotechnology, and some of its research is still being considered to be an economic interest. Shares of Genesis, which was founded in 1994, last traded at 3.1 cents on May 18 and have slumped 74% in the past 12 months. It was turned down for additional funding from the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology.

The Malaghan Institute of Medical Research has international acclaim and the new funding, announced today, is expected to enable the institute enhance its globally leading work in cancer. The Institute’s Chief Executive, Mr. Olds, said each world class research team had been allocated $5 million to support their research whose final outcomes are aimed at benefiting the New Zealand population. The funded research programmes are in studies related to obesity and mortality, rate of strokes in New Zealand, Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias that currently affect over 40,000 New Zealanders.

Old further added that, with the allocation of the $81 million funding for healthcare research, it serves as a reflection of the impressive nature of health research being done in the country. It is hoped that this investment in healthcare research will contribute hugely towards the delivery of better healthcare and other economic gains to NZ. The funding is to be given to research such as AUT University Professor, Valery Feigin’s, study on the current and future of strokes in the country.

This is to be done in conjunction with University of Auckland, Waikato University, Waikato Hospital and the Ministry of Health. Another $5 million will be given to University of Otago Professor, Wickliffe Abraham, in his study on Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, spread over five years. The aging population is expected to increase the number of dementia afflictions, with about 40,000 New Zealander’s already affected.

University of Otago, Wellington, Professor, Tony Blakely will study health spending over the next five years in a bid to show the best way of using limited health resources. The research into cancer vaccines will be carried out in a state-of-the-art facility opened in May at the Malaghan Institute. The facility was designed specially for the preparation, processing of human tissue culture for vaccine production under exacting standards required for Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). The new research laboratories at the institute were built through a JV between Victoria University and KIA Taylor Charitable Trust and represent a unique long term commitment by the two parties in ensuring New Zealand has the necessary infrastructure for the development of human vaccines against cancer.