A joint document was drafted and will be sent to the science and technology ministries of the member countrie
Photo: CNPEM Outreach
Photo: CNPEM Outreach
The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation strengthened its collaboration with international science diplomacy by coordinating the 6th Meeting of the BRICS Working Group on Biotechnology and Biomedicine (Including Human Health and Neuroscience) on May 14 and 15. The meeting was held on the campus of the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM) in Campinas, São Paulo and attended by delegations from Brazil, Russia, India, China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran.
During the two-day program, participants discussed strategic topics such as multicenter clinical trials, preparation for new pandemics, mental and cognitive diseases, technologies for emerging diseases, bioethics and neuroethics, agricultural biotechnology and food safety.
Luciana Santos, who leads the Brazilian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), sent a video message to the group. “It is with great satisfaction that the Brazilian government once again assumes the BRICS presidency, and MCTI is especially honored to again coordinate dialogs in the field of science, technology and innovation. The cooperation within BRICS is, from Brazil’s viewpoint, the most dynamic and solid of the entire group,” said Minister Santos.
Leandro Pedron is director of MCTI’s Thematic Programs department, and considered the meeting productive. “It consolidates cooperation between the BRICS countries in the area of science and technology for health and biotechnology. One of the highlights was defining joint priorities for the next call for proposals for the BRICS STI Framework Program, with strategic themes like neurotechnology, advanced medicine, emerging diseases and biotechnology applied to agriculture and the climate,” he noted.
For Maria Augusta Arruda, Director of the Brazilian Biosciences National Laboratory (LNBio) at CNPEM, the meeting marked a concrete step forward in solidifying
international partnerships. “It’s impressive to see the progress of this group, which has been meeting for years. There was a meeting here at CNPEM in 2019, and to see this current edition, with some of the participants returning, makes this one even more auspicious. Although not everyone was present at the pre-pandemic meeting, the memory of that first one strengthened ties and continued the joint efforts,” she said.
At the end of the session, all the countries present signed an official summary of the proceedings, which will be sent to the science and technology ministries of the member countries and presented at a high-level meeting with the respective ministers in the coming months. One highlight among the main results was progress on a group project focusing on neuroscience, led by Russia.
The program included technical sessions moderated by the Brazilian and Russian delegations, as well as visits to CNPEM’s scientific facilities such as Sirius, one of the world’s most advanced synchrotron light sources, and the future Orion laboratory complex for pathogen research, which will include Latin America’s first maximum biological containment (BSL-4) facilities.
According to MCTI program director Leandro Pedron, there was also an important consensus around future initiatives, including the recommendation to create a digital platform for exchanging information between countries and a suggestion to form a working group between regulatory agencies to align ethical and regulatory guidelines in clinical trials.
“Overall, the meeting reinforced the countries’ commitment to moving forward together on sensitive issues that are highly relevant to public health and technological innovation,” concluded Pedron.
Created in 2016, the BRICS Working Group on Biotechnology and Biomedicine was founded to foster scientific partnerships in order to face global challenges related to health, innovation and sustainable development. The 2025 edition reinforced the broadening of these topics to include agricultural biotechnology, and underscored the importance of science as a bridge to building a fairer and more resilient future.
About CNPEM
CNPEM is home to a state-of-the-art, multi-user and multidisciplinary scientific environment, with activities within different fronts of the Brazilian National System for Science, Technology and Innovation. A social organization overseen by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), CNPEM is driven by research that impacts the areas of health, energy, renewable materials, and sustainability. It is responsible for Sirius, the largest assembly of scientific equipment constructed in the country, and is currently constructing Project Orion, a laboratory complex for advanced pathogen research.
The Center’s scientific activities are carried out by the Brazilian Synchrotron Light (LNLS), Biosciences (LNBio), Nanotechnology (LNNano), and Biorenewables (LNBR) National Laboratories, as well the Ilum School of Science, which offers bachelor’s degree program in science and technology with support from the Ministry of Education (MEC)
