Introduction

Introduction

The Interunits Graduate Program in Biotechnology (PPIB) of the University of São Paulo is a stricto sensu program of training of human resources at the graduate level to perform in Biotechnology. Biotechnology means “any technological application that uses biological systems, living organisms or derivatives thereof, to make or modify products or processes for specific uses”. (UN Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992).
The PPIB is made up of 3 institutions: the University of São Paulo (USP), the Butantan Institute of the Health Secretariat of the State of São Paulo (IBu), and the Technological Research Institute of the State of São Paulo (IPT), widely recognized in their fields of activity.
The units of the University of São Paulo participating in the PPIB are: the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICB), the Institute of Biosciences (IB), the Polytechnic School (EP), and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science (FMVZ).
Due to its interunits and interinstitutional nature, the PPIB is directly linked to the USP Graduate Pro-Rectory. The PPIB is located in Building III of the USP Institute of Biomedical Sciences, which is responsible for the academic, administrative and financial management of the Program.
The main objective of the creation of PPIB was to ensure the interdisciplinarity indispensable to modern biotechnology, in all its scope. In order to provide adequate training, it is necessary to consolidate specific competences of several areas of knowledge, such as Genetics, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, Microbiology, Biochemical Engineering, Biochemistry, Information Technology, Biosafety, Bioethics, among others. In addition, the interinstitutional organization enables institutes with a scientific-technological vocation, such as the Butantan Institute and the Technological Research Institute, to participate, together with the University of São Paulo, in the training of professionals with a suitable profile for the applied area.
The PPIB proposes to train professionals with the necessary interdisciplinary vision, able to understand Biotechnology in all its potential, and who can be agents of transformation, capable of accelerating the mechanisms of articulation between different research institutions and between these institutions and the productive sector. This spirit of integration is reflected not only in the training of the students, but also in the developed research projects that stimulate scientific cooperation among the different groups to generate products and processes of importance in the Brazilian socio-economic context.
In order to fulfill its objectives, and within the incessant search for quality, the PPIB counts on advisors from the different units of the University of São Paulo, the Butantan Institute and the Institute of Technological Research, but also has among its advisors professors and researchers from other universities, public or private, such as UNIFESP, UNESP, UNICAMP, University of Mogi das Cruzes, Federal University of ABC, as well as other research institutions, such as the Adolfo Lutz Institute, the Biological Institute, the Nuclear and Energy Research Institute of São Paulo, Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, INCOR, Hospital of Cancer AC Camargo, Institute of Cancer of the State of São Paulo (ICESP), and CNEN.