The Department of Bioengineering (DBE) organised the DBE Open Laboratories last week, from 3rd to 7th February. More than 700 secondary school students had the opportunity to learn more about Biotechnology, Biological Sciences, Bioengineering, Robotics and Biomechanics.

Professor Susana Vinga’s lecture on Bioinformatics, held on 7th February, captivated students’ attention. “All systems can be described from a mathematical point of view”, explained the DBE professor. The fields of research that come from the intersection with bioinformatics, the exponential growth of this area, the importance of sequencing and the way that algorithms are changing society, were some of the topics addressed.

The students were then divided into small groups to observe extremely colorful fungi under the microscope and to learn more about antibiotic resistance.