The Centre of Biological Engineering at UMinho’s School of Engineering has been developing excellent science in Portugal for 30 years and celebrated its anniversary at an event held on June 13 at the Gualtar campus.

The CEB currently has more than 300 researchers, 123 of whom are PhDs, and has annual external funding of 5.6 million euros, including from industry.

63 patents have already been granted, 17 spin-off companies and nearly 2,000 articles published in leading scientific journals (in the last 6 years). These are just some of the figures that attest to the impact and quality of the scientific research carried out at the Centre for Biological Engineering at the University of Minho, one of the most dynamic R&D units in the country, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this June.

The excellence of the scientific research carried out at the CEB is further confirmed by the fact that the Centre is among the research units with the highest number of citations per article in the areas of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, as well as having researchers on the list of the most cited in the world for several years. Of the nearly two thousand articles published in the last six years, 75 per cent are in scientific journals that are in the Q1 quartile, i.e. where the best 25 per cent are included.

One of the outstanding factors of this Research Centre is also its international reach. As well as attracting a large number of foreign researchers – from 47 different countries – it has two grants funded by the European Research Council (ERC) and participates in various European projects. It should also be noted that 45 per cent of the articles published are co-authored with international teams, as well as the high number of international collaborations with organisations such as MIT, Harvard and Cambridge Universities, among many others.

The proximity to industry is evident not only in the number of spin-off companies that have been created over the years – 17 – and patents granted – 63 – but also in the extensive network of partnerships and projects developed with the business sector, namely with large international groups such as DuPont, Johnson&Johnson, Chr Hansen, Veolia and Wetsus or, in Portugal, with the SuperBock Group, the RAR Group, The Navigator Company, Partex – Oil&Gas, GALP, Kyaia and the Amorim Group.

Working in the areas of biotechnology and bioengineering for the environmental, health, industrial and food sectors, the CEB – Centre of Biological Engineering is part of the School of Engineering at the University of Minho. It is divided into 13 research groups and organised into four thematic lines.

The School of Engineering congratulates the CEB on this long and successful journey and hopes that they will celebrate many more decades of success!