This year, the competition brought together more than 500 teams from nine countries. The participants worked on tasks in the field of synthetic biology and biotechnology — from protein design and the creation of artificial cellular systems to developments for medicine, industry, agriculture, and ecology.

Russia has been represented at the competition by the team from Pirogov University for the second year in a row. Its members were:

— Oleg Zakharov, sixth‑year student majoring in Bioinformatics;

— Amina Kozhemova, sixth‑year student majoring in Bioinformatics;

— Dmitry Suponin, fifth‑year student majoring in Bioinformatics;

— Mikhail Andrushkin, bachelor’s degree graduate majoring in Biology;

— Denis Rudik, bachelor’s graduate in Biology.

This is not the first time the team has made it to the SynBio Challenges finals: representatives of Pirogov University have passed the selection process for the second year in a row and are heading to China to compete with young researchers from leading universities in various countries.

SynBio Challenges is an international competition in which fundamental knowledge must be applied to solve specific research and engineering tasks. Participants need not only to understand modern biology but also to be proficient in bioinformatics and computer modeling tools, be able to work with experimental data, and find non‑standard solutions.

The scale and international significance of the project continue to grow: in 2026, the SynBio Challenges competition became one of the initiatives of the International Decade of the Sciences for Sustainable Development by UNESCO.

The gold medal achieved by the team from Pirogov Russian National Research Medical University is the result of serious preparation and an opportunity to once again demonstrate the high level of the University’s young researchers on an international scientific platform.

Congratulations on the outstanding result and we wish you new scientific achievements!