1st Brazilian Symposium on Bioinformatics in Education (SBBioEd) Successfully Held at UFMG
DCC-UFMG, Belo Horizonte
From October 21–23, 2026, LBS hosted the 1st Brazilian Symposium on Bioinformatics in Education (SBBioEd), coordinated by Prof. Dr. Raquel C. de Melo-Minardi and MSc. Helena Lott, bringing together researchers and educators to discuss the role of Bioinformatics in education.
From October 21–23, 2026, the Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Systems (LBS) at DCC-UFMG hosted the 1st Brazilian Symposium on Bioinformatics in Education (SBBioEd), coordinated by Prof. Dr. Raquel C. de Melo-Minardi and doctoral student MSc. Helena Lott. The event was supported by the UFMG Interunits Graduate Program in Bioinformatics and the UFMG Department of Computer Science.
The meeting brought together leading researchers and educators to discuss innovations in education, highlighting the role of Bioinformatics as an interdisciplinary teaching strategy, the implementation of Brazil's National Curriculum (BNCC) – Computing competencies, the use of Artificial Intelligence for lesson planning and teaching materials, as well as the ethical and practical challenges of this technology in the classroom.
Program highlights:
October 21 (Day 1) Workshop: Exploring Biological Databases (NCBI, UniProt, PDB, PDB 101) — Prof. Dr. Janaína de Oliveira Melo and MSc. Rafael Lemos Opening Panel: Prof. Dr. Raquel C. de Melo-Minardi, Prof. Dr. Janaina Gomide, Prof. Dr. Tarcisio Coutinho and MSc. Helena Lott Talk: The Future of Bioinformatics in Basic and Higher Education — Prof. Dr. Tarcisio Coutinho
October 22 (Day 2) Workshop: Python for Biologists – From Scratch to Sequence Manipulation — Dr. Luana Luiza Bastos, MSc. Milenna Pirovani and Dr. Sheila Cruz Araujo Talk: BNCC Computing, Unplugged Activities and AI — Prof. Dr. Janaína Gomide Talk: AI and Bioinformatics: Ethical and Educational Challenges — Prof. Dr. Raquel C. de Melo-Minardi Poster Presentation Session
October 23 (Day 3) Workshop: Technologies in High School – Reports and Pilot Projects — Dr. Camila Franco Batista de Oliveira and Prof. Dr. Graziela Guarda Round Table: The Future of Basic Scientific Education — Prof. Dr. Adlane Vilas-Boas Ferreira (PROFBIO/UFMG), Prof. Dr. Leila Ribeiro (PROFCOMP/UFRGS), Prof. Dr. Walcy Santos (PROFMAT/UFRJ) and Prof. Dr. Tarcisio Coutinho (IFPB/UFRN) Presentation: Scratch and Python Course — MSc. Helena Lott Presentation: IdeaReal: an open innovation environment for everyone — Prof. Dr. Liza Felicori and Gabriel Felipe Martins Magalhães Awards and Honorable Mentions for best paper and best poster presentations
We sincerely thank all speakers, organizers and participants who contributed to building such a rich space for exchange and strengthening of scientific and computational education.