Around 50 students from 28 public and private secondary schools participated in the national final of the XVII Biotechnology Olympics that took place on May 19, 2023 at the Faculty of Biotechnology (ESB), in Porto. Students were selected from nearly 400 competitors who were in the first round.

During the morning of the Olympics, the finalist students took a written test where they had the opportunity to demonstrate their general knowledge of the most varied dimensions of biotechnology and comment on the implications of the controversial labeling of transgenic foods. Throughout the day, students also participated in different laboratory activities and also took the opportunity to socialize.

In the final session, which included the lecture “Biomaterials for Human Tissue Engineering” given by professor and researcher Ana Oliveira and where the president of the Portuguese Society of Biotechnology was also present, the 3 ex aequo winners were announced: Lara Marques Alexandre (from Afonso Lopes Vieira Secondary School, in Leiria), Rita Belo Polaco Ramalho (from Colégio Atlântico, in Seixal) and Sara Krishna Batista Patel (from Colégio Internato dos Carvalhos, in Gaia).

Unfortunately, Sara had to leave, so she couldn't receive the prize in person. Lara, 18 years old, has Biology as her favorite subject. The student did not hide her surprise at being one of this year's winners: "I had already enrolled in the 10th and 11th grades and had not won!" As for Rita, who participated this year for the first time in the Biotechnology Olympics, she is 17 years old and was very satisfied with her performance. After highlighting Biology and Mathematics as her favorite topics, she pointed out her curiosity about the Olympics and the enrollment together with her colleagues as the factors that led her to participate: “We ended up motivating each other!”.

All finalists received a certificate of participation and a book. The winners also received an application check (which means they are exempt from the application fee for ESB degrees) and a Samsung tablet, in addition to the respective winner's diploma.

The next edition of the Olympics is already scheduled for the year 2024 and will continue to have the Faculty of Biotechnology and the Sociedade Portuguesa de Biotecnologia as its main promoters.

Rita Ramalho (left) and Lara Alexandre (right) were the two winners of the 2023 Biotechnology Olympics who attended the awards ceremony.

In 2023 the organization of the Olympics was only possible thanks to the generous support of: