Decoding the scientific concerns, technological trends, and health challenges shaping a generation of biomedical professionals
Undergraduate thesis projects (TCCs) are much more than a bureaucratic requirement: they encapsulate the scientific concerns, technological trends, and health challenges that shape a generation of biomedical professionals. At the Bahiana School of Medicine and Public Health (EBMSP), these works function as an "intellectual thermometer" of the Biomedicine course, authorized in 2002 and recognized in 2007. With a workload of 4,158 hours distributed over 8 semesters, the TCC is mandatory for graduation 1 . This article unveils the thematic profiles of these works, revealing how microorganisms, genes, and diagnostic innovations have guided biomedical education in northeastern Brazil.
The TCC at Bahiana takes two main formats:
Original studies with data collection, common in clinical or microbiological analyses.
Critical syntheses of literature, dominant in theoretical or emerging topics 1 .
Between 2006-2018, 387 TCCs were analyzed, using Excel and GraphPad Prism for tabulation. The classification followed axes such as:
A seminal study analyzed abstracts of TCCs from Bahiana (2006-2018), adopting a rigorous protocol:
Abstracts retrieved from the institutional repository.
Themes associated with course disciplines (e.g., Microbiology, Immunology).
Linkage to CAPES areas and professional qualifications.
Thematic frequency and correlations with curricular guidelines 1 .
| Discipline | Number of TCCs | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Microbiology | 55 | 14.21% |
| Parasitology | 35 | 9.04% |
| Immunology | 33 | 8.53% |
| Hematology | 28 | 7.24% |
| Biochemistry | 25 | 6.46% |
Context: With microbiology leading the TCCs, an exemplary work investigated resistance genes in Klebsiella pneumoniae in local ICUs.
| Gene | Positive Samples (n=120) | Resistance to Carbapenems |
|---|---|---|
| blaKPC | 68 (56.7%) | 100% |
| NDM-1 | 42 (35.0%) | 100% |
Results: 92% of strains resisted ≥3 antibiotic classes. Isolates with both genes exhibited resistance to polymyxins (last therapeutic line).
Impact: The study supported infection control protocols in partner hospitals, illustrating how TCCs generate local solutions .
Historical analysis reveals significant changes:
Pre-symptomatic diagnosis of Alzheimer's via biomarkers
Efficacy of microneedling in acne scars
Biosafety in barbershops: Hepatitis B risks
TCCs function as "sensors" for curriculum updates. The high production in microbiology, for example, justified the creation of biosafety level 2 laboratories at Bahiana. Contemporary themes like nanoparticles for vaccines push for bioengineering disciplines 1 .
More than an academic requirement, Bahiana's final papers are time capsules of Bahian biomedical knowledge. They reveal everything from the historical fight against endemic pathogens to the cutting edge in genomics and artificial intelligence. As themes like CAR-T therapy and gene editing emerge in 2025 TCCs, one thing is clear: these works not only reflect the evolution of Biomedicine—they drive it. As Caldas et al. (2019) concluded: "Proper storage of TCCs is vital for mapping future routes of biomedical education and research" 1 .