It's extremely hard to forecast and organize our work when we don't know when calls will open.
Nas margens do Atlântico, a Universidade dos Açores prepara-se para formalizar aquilo que a natureza insular há muito sugere: que a vida, nas suas formas mais subtis, encerra soluções para os desafios humanos. A partir de 2026, o campus de Angra do Heroísmo passará a formar biotecnologistas capazes de traduzir genómica bovina, variedades endémicas de maçã e plantas geotérmicas em respostas concretas para a agricultura, a saúde e o ambiente. É um passo que inscreve o arquipélago numa conversa científica global — mas que exige, para se cumprir, o investimento institucional que ainda tarda.
- A ausência de uma licenciatura em biotecnologia deixava por aproveitar décadas de investigação já em curso no Centro de Biotecnologia dos Açores.
- O investigador Artur da Câmara Machado alertou que a incerteza sobre o calendário dos concursos de financiamento paralisa a planificação científica e ameaça a continuidade dos projetos.
- O novo curso, anunciado à margem da conferência Microbiotec25, procura colmatar essa lacuna formando estudantes em genética, microbiologia, cultura de tecidos e engenharia aplicada a múltiplos setores.
- Projetos já em curso — da genómica do leite à resistência climática de variedades endémicas — demonstram o potencial regional, mas dependem de equipamento caro e de apoio financeiro ainda insuficiente.
- O programa aponta para uma bioeconomia açoriana mais robusta, embora os investigadores sublinhem que a promessa só se concretizará com compromissos institucionais mais sólidos e previsíveis.
A Universidade dos Açores vai introduzir uma licenciatura em biotecnologia no ano letivo 2026-2027, sediada no campus de Angra do Heroísmo. O anúncio foi feito por Artur da Câmara Machado, investigador do Centro de Biotecnologia dos Açores, em vésperas da conferência Microbiotec25, que o centro acolhe em dezembro.
O curso abrangerá agricultura de precisão, desenvolvimento farmacêutico, tecnologia alimentar e restauro ambiental, assentando numa formação interdisciplinar que combina genética, microbiologia, cultura de tecidos e engenharia. Machado recordou que a biotecnologia tem raízes antigas — o pão e as bebidas fermentadas são dos seus primeiros frutos — mas opera hoje a uma escala radicalmente diferente, da terapia génica à reciclagem industrial de subprodutos agrícolas.
O centro já desenvolve investigação com impacto direto na região: um projeto de genómica bovina permite identificar vacas que produzem leite sem beta-caseomorfina e com variantes favoráveis da proteína kappa-caseína, podendo aumentar o rendimento leiteiro em cerca de dez por cento. Outro estudo debruça-se sobre variedades endémicas de maçã, procurando compreender como florescem e frutificam num clima com amplitude térmica reduzida — conhecimento que poderá ajudar a adaptar a agricultura regional às alterações climáticas. Paralelamente, investigam-se plantas que sobrevivem em zonas de desgaseificação geotérmica, onde o solo ultrapassa os 70 graus Celsius a quinze centímetros de profundidade, com vista a transferir essa resistência ao stress para outras culturas.
Apesar do potencial, Machado sublinhou dois obstáculos persistentes: o custo elevado de equipamento especializado e a dificuldade em planear a investigação sem saber quando abrem os concursos de financiamento. A nova licenciatura representa um compromisso com a formação de competências locais, mas a sua plena realização dependerá de um apoio regional mais estável e ambicioso.
The University of Azores will begin teaching biotechnology as a formal degree program in the 2026-2027 academic year, marking a significant expansion of the institution's scientific offerings. The announcement came from Artur da Câmara Machado, a researcher at the university's Center for Biotechnology of the Azores, during an interview ahead of the Microbiotec25 conference, which the center is hosting from December 4 to 6 on campus.
The new degree will be based at the university's Angra do Heroísmo campus and will train students in a deliberately broad range of applications: precision agriculture, pharmaceutical development, food technology, healthcare, and environmental restoration. Machado described the curriculum as modern and rigorous, designed to deepen understanding of biology while maintaining the interdisciplinary character that defines biotechnology itself. The field, he explained, is fundamentally about using cells, tissues, or organs to create products and solutions that serve human needs—a practice that stretches back centuries but has evolved dramatically in scope and sophistication.
To illustrate the field's reach across time, Machado pointed to bread and fermented beverages as among humanity's earliest biotechnological achievements. Yeast cells added to grain transformed simple flour into something more palatable and digestible; the same microbial process converts starches into alcohol. Today's biotechnology operates at a vastly different scale of complexity: vaccine development, diagnostic testing for disease, gene therapy, selective breeding of crops and livestock, and the industrial recycling of agricultural and manufacturing byproducts. What unites all these applications is their reliance on multiple disciplines working in concert—physiology, genetics, tissue culture, microbiology, and various engineering fields. Producing antibodies for diagnostic tests, for instance, requires cultivating cells in bioreactors, specialized vessels where every condition necessary for cellular multiplication and protein production can be precisely controlled. That engineering component alone demonstrates why biotechnology cannot be taught as a single subject but must be presented as a genuinely multidisciplinary endeavor.
The Center for Biotechnology of the Azores, which will anchor the new degree program, is already conducting research aimed at strengthening the region's economy through bioeconomy innovation. One major project focuses on bovine genomics, using DNA testing to help farmers identify cattle that produce milk without beta-casomorphin, a compound that triggers digestive distress and intolerance in some humans. The same genetic analysis can identify favorable variants in kappa-casein protein, potentially increasing dairy yield by roughly ten percent without requiring additional milk volume. Another initiative examines the endemic apple varieties native to the Azores, seeking to understand the molecular mechanisms that allow these trees to flower and fruit despite the region's narrow temperature range—about 15 degrees Celsius—and insufficient cold hours for commercial varieties. Understanding these mechanisms could help adapt existing varieties to climate change and prepare regional agriculture for a warming world.
The center is also studying plants that thrive in geothermal desgasification zones, where soil temperatures fifteen centimeters below the surface exceed 70 degrees Celsius. The goal is to apply the stress-tolerance strategies these plants have evolved to other agricultural crops, anticipating future global heating. These projects reflect the center's stated mission: to drive sustainable regional development through excellent research, advanced education, and technology transfer, with particular focus on indigenous resources as sources of competitive research and innovative products.
Yet Machado emphasized that progress remains constrained by insufficient regional investment in biotechnology, despite its recognition as a European priority. The center faces two persistent obstacles: the need for expensive, highly specialized equipment, and the difficulty of planning research activities amid uncertainty about when funding competitions will open. "It's extremely hard to forecast and organize our work when we don't know when calls for proposals will be announced," he said. The new degree program represents a commitment to building local expertise, but realizing its full potential will require more stable and substantial support from regional authorities.
Notable Quotes
Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary technique involving physiology, genetics, tissue culture, microbiology, and engineering—it brings together all these fields of knowledge.— Artur da Câmara Machado, Center for Biotechnology of the Azores
The region has made progress, but there is clearly a need for stronger, more specific commitment to biotechnology from regional authorities.— Artur da Câmara Machado
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a small island region need its own biotechnology degree? Couldn't students just study elsewhere?
They could, but then the knowledge leaves. The Azores has specific agricultural and environmental challenges—the narrow temperature range, the endemic species, the geothermal zones. You need researchers and professionals who understand those local conditions and can innovate within them. A degree rooted here keeps that expertise in place.
The bovine genomics work sounds practical. How does identifying a genetic variant in milk actually help a farmer?
It lets them make breeding decisions based on data rather than guesswork. If you know which cows carry the gene for milk without beta-casomorphin, you can selectively breed for that trait. Same with the kappa-casein variants—you're essentially getting more product from the same input. That's the difference between subsistence and competitive agriculture.
The researcher mentioned uncertainty about funding competitions. How serious is that problem?
It's paralyzing. If you don't know when money will be available, you can't hire staff, can't commit to long-term projects, can't plan equipment purchases. You're always in a holding pattern. For a research center trying to do sophisticated work, that's a real constraint on what's possible.
What makes the endemic apple research relevant beyond the Azores?
Climate change is coming everywhere. If these Azorean apples have evolved mechanisms to thrive in difficult conditions—low temperature variation, limited cold hours—understanding those mechanisms could help agriculture adapt globally. It's local knowledge with universal application.
Is this degree program a sign the region is finally taking biotechnology seriously?
It's a step. Creating a degree shows commitment to building a workforce and keeping young people engaged in the field. But the researcher was clear: without better funding and planning certainty, the program can only do so much. The infrastructure and resources have to follow.