
AccelBio’s CEO, Bárbara Gomes, attended the first day of the I Congresso Internacional de Investigação em Saúde Militar, held on September 25th and 26th, 2026, at the Fundação Champalimaud in Lisbon, where she presented the poster “Dual-Use Translational Science for Military Health.”
The congress brought together military health leaders, researchers, and emergency and disaster-response specialists from Portugal and abroad. Its programme was organised around three areas: military health in new conflicts, force protection and operational readiness, and research and innovation in military health. The first day included sessions on adapting emergency medical services during prolonged crises, applied defence research in the NATO ecosystem, the use of artificial intelligence in military health, operational health and force protection, and the role of health systems in disaster response.
The AccelBio poster showed how the translational drug-discovery platforms already validated in academic and industry partnerships can be applied to the needs of armed forces. It outlined three dual-use pillars: physiological monitoring and operational readiness through multiomics-based biomarker panels, accelerated development of defence-adapted therapeutics such as antivirals, antibodies and vaccines through AI/ML-driven virtual screening, and personalised medicine for the military using organoids derived from a combatant’s own cells. It also set out how AccelBio can work with defence and health partners through co-development and risk-sharing projects and access to its core facilities.
Taking part in events across the wider health and innovation landscape is part of how AccelBio stays connected with developments beyond its core biotech and pharma ecosystem, and with the people working on them.