iJOBS Workshop: BioRender 201 Advanced Design Features

By Janaina Cruz Pereira

BioRender is a user-friendly web application designed to help scientists create professional, high-quality scientific figures, diagrams, and illustrations. It offers a vast library of scientifically accurate images and tools for customization. Recently, Rutgers University made the premium version of BioRender available to faculty, staff, students, and affiliates. To introduce advanced BioRender features, the Rutgers iJOBS program hosted a webinar on March 4th, led by BioRender’s Customer Success Manager Aaron Kyte. This webinar demonstrated how BioRender can enhance the design of manuscripts, grants, and presentations. Let’s explore the key features of BioRender and how they can help the Rutgers community create visually compelling scientific content.

Getting Started with BioRender

To begin using BioRender, click “Create New” and choose from the available options:

1. Illustrations

BioRender allows you to create vector-based illustrations, a tool to maintain high-quality images regardless of resizing. To create an illustration, you can either click on the icon button and browse different categories or search for a specific icon using the search bar. You can customize illustrations in several ways:

• Changing Colors & Effects – Adjust colors, transparency, glow, and saturation.
• Editable Icons – Modify individual elements within icons (e.g., cell membrane or nucleus).
• Grouping Icons – Combine multiple icons and edit them as a unit by selecting all icons (click and drag) and clicking "Group". To quickly access grouped icons, Favorite them by selecting the group and clicking "Favorite".
• Brush Tools – BioRender offers specialized brushes (e.g., DNA, RNA, and cell membrane brushes) for fluid, dynamic designs. You can find this by clicking on the Brushes Tab or using the search bar. To convert brushes into editable icons, select the "Separate Brush into Editable Icons" option.

2. Templates

BioRender’s scientific team has ready-made templates for faster figure creation. You can find them by clicking through Gallery → BioRender Templates → Illustration and then searching by a category or keyword. Templates are especially useful for creating protocol images and presentations. For presentations, BioRender allows you to add or delete slides within the template. When you finish, you may export the presentation to PowerPoint by selecting Gallery → BioRender Templates → Presentation → Export as PPTX file.

Advanced BioRender Features

1. Protein Data Bank (PDB) Integration

BioRender is integrated with PDB, a database of 3D protein structures. This allows you to import a 3D protein structure by entering its PDB ID (e.g., "1f45" for human interleukin-12) and customize the structure by adjusting the color, transparency, and saturation.

2. Graphing in BioRender

BioRender supports graph creation and statistical analysis using the R programming language and environment. There are two ways to create graphs:

• Using Templates – BioRender’s scientific team made graph templates available as an easy way to edit a pre-designed graphs. You can find these by selecting Gallery → BioRender Templates → Graphs. Then, choose and modify a pre-designed graph. 
• Creating a New Graph – Select a new graph through Create New → Graphs → Graph Family → Select Graph Type → Create. Then, copy and paste data into the dataset tab. You may customize elements such as graph type, legend, color, and data points. Once you are satisfied with the graph, click "Run Analysis" to generate results.

A new feature (i.e. Style Match) allows you to apply styles from one graph to another, ensuring a consistent look across multiple graphs.

BioRender & PowerPoint Integration

Another new feature allows you to now create BioRender presentations and export them to PowerPoint. You can access this through your BioRender presentation by clicking Export → PPTX → Export.

For collaborative work, you can also share presentations directly in BioRender by selecting Create a folder → Add images/presentation → Right-click → Share → Enter email/group name.

To create a new group for collaboration, click your name (top right corner) → go to Settings → Groups → Create New Group. Then, name the group and add members.

Poster Builder in BioRender

BioRender provides two options for creating scientific posters:

• Using Templates – You can browse pre-designed poster templates by various universities and companies using the search bar. Biorender contains both academic- and company-specific templates along with institutional colors and logos.

• Creating a New Poster – You can add/delete and customize (font, color, size) sections. When you change the size of your poster or add/delete a section, all sections will resize automatically without compromising image quality. Add images/graphs from your computer by selecting Add Image → Upload → Select File. To select images from the BioRender gallery select Add Image → Gallery → Select Saved Image/Graph.

If you already have BioRender, check out the full webinar tutorial via the official Rutgers iJOBS link. If you would like to start using Biorender, you can now access BioRender Premium at a discounted rate through the Office of Information Technology software portal. So, make the most of this resource and create clear, professional scientific visuals for your next presentation or poster!

This article was edited by Junior Editor E. Beyza Guven and Senior Editor Antonia Kaz.