BiotrAIn course: Concepts, approaches and applications of Artificial Intelligence in bioscience

Hub&Spokes Course: April 20-24, 2026 - Costa Rica/Argentina/Brazil/Chile/México/Colombia

Background

A group of collaborators from Universidad de Costa Rica, CABANAnet and EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) have joined to address some disparities in bioscience-related AI through training. Now, in the second phase, "Hub&Spokes", several academic institutions across Latin America have joined us to continue extending the community and triggering AI skills.

The BiotrAIn project, supported by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, aims to create a fundamental and sustainable curriculum on artificial intelligence (AI) for bioscientists from Latin America, including data science basics, and leading towards the use and application of AI to better solve biological and biomedical problems.

Our intended impact is that Latin America is able to participate as an equal partner in globally important bioscience projects that use or develop artificial intelligence methods.

Core team

Cath Brooksbank - EMBL-EBI, Principal Investigator, UK

Jose Arturo Molina Mora - University of Costa Rica, Co-Investigator, lead for LATAM, Costa Rica

Rebeca Campos Sáchez - University of Costa Rica, Co-Investigator, CABANAnet, Costa Rica

Kim Gurwitz - EMBL-EBI, Project manager, UK

Cindy Aguilar Bartels - University of Costa Rica, Project manager, Costa Rica

Juanita Riveros - EMBL-EBI, Events Organiser, UK

Lizzie Bridget Divala - EMBL-EBI, Project manager, UK

BiotrAIn community - Module coordinators

Jose Arturo Molina Mora, Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica

Carla Valeria Filippi, Facultad de Agronomia, Universidad de la República, Uruguay

Maria Fernanda Dias, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) – Center for Health Sciences (CCS) – Institute of Biodiversity and Sustainability (NUPEM), Brazil

Nelly Selem, National Autonomous University of México Center of Mathematical Sciences, México

Adrián Turjanski, Facultad de ciencias exactas y natirales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina

Tulio Campos, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Brazil

BiotrAIn community - Classrooms for Hub&Spokes

University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica

• Cath Brooksbank
• Jose Molina Mora
• Rebeca Campos Sánchez
• Maikol Solis Chacón

University of Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia

• Benilton Carvalho
• Hernan Salinas
• Isabella Gallego
• Olga López Acevedo
• Yesid Cuesta Astroz

University Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile

• Felipe Sepulveda
• Juan F. Calderon
• Juan A. Ugalde
• Romina Sepulveda

ENES Unidad León, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico

• Alejandra Rougon Cardoso
• Cesaré Ovando-Vázquez
• Noé García Chávez
• Nelly Sélem
• Víctor Muñiz
• Miguel Angel Magaña
• Varinia López Ramírez

University of Buenos Aires (FCEN-UBA), Argentina

• Adrián Turjanski
• Carla Filippi
• Juan Antonio Bizzotto
• Marcelo Martí
• María Inés Fariello
• María Sol Ruíz

Aggeu Magalhães Institute / Fiocruz Pernambuco, Brazil

• Beatriz Melo
• Camila Lins
• João Pitta
• Maria Fernanda Dias
• Marcos Daniel Farfan
• Matheus Azevedo
• Nicole Scherer
• Túlio Campos

CIFASIS, Argentina

• Elizabeth Tapia
• Flavio Spetale
• Gustavo Rodriguez
• Javier de las Rivas
• Natalia Iglesias

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, participants will be able to apply foundational concepts of artificial intelligence and machine learning to biological data, including situations in the LATAM context, leveraging their existing data analysis skills to:

1. Identify appropriate AI concepts and techniques, ethical aspects, and general usability of AI in bioscience.

2. Preprocess and analyze biological datasets using clustering algorithms, including regional databases (LATAM).

3. Build and evaluate classification models to address biological questions in the LATAM context.

4. Apply deep learning models, including tools such as AlphaFold, to analyze complex biological research problems.

5. Deliver AI contents with best teaching/learning practices in biological research.

More info

More details at: EMBL-EBI

License

This work is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).