By Emily Overway
Updated May 2025
Thanks to a partnership between the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Basic Sciences and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, all graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, staff, and primary faculty in the SOMBS have access to BioRender Premium.
You can create an account through the Vanderbilt Basic Sciences Portal. Those who have previously signed up for BioRender with their Vanderbilt email account should also sign in through this portal to receive their free, premium membership. If you have a BioRender account but it is linked to a non-Vanderbilt email address, please email support@biorender.com for help linking your old account to your premium access. If you have paid for premium yourself, please follow these instructions to cancel your subscription.
BioRender is a web-based program that helps researchers create scientific figures up to 50 times faster than traditional tools. The tool combines a library of over 50,000 scientifically accurate, expert-validated life science icons and templates with intuitive drag-and-drop functionality. The platform allows for creation of publication-quality figures in minutes with no drawing skills required. Additionally, BioRender allows for secure, team-based collaborations, allowing individuals to share illustrations with their lab or team; members can be easily added or removed as necessary.
The benefits of BioRender Premium include the ability to create unlimited illustrations, export high-resolution images, publish your illustrations in journals, request custom icons, access all content on their website, create posters with Vanderbilt’s brand colors, generate graphs and other data visualizations, and more.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is BioRender?
BioRender is an online software tool that helps scientists create and share beautiful, professional science figures in minutes.
Who can gain access through the Basic Sciences license?
- Faculty with primary appointments in one of the four School of Medicine Basic Sciences departments:
- Biochemistry
- Cell and Developmental Biology
- Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
- Pharmacology
- Research faculty, staff, and postdocs who work in the lab of a faculty member with a primary appointment in Basic Sciences department
- Ph.D. students who belong in any of the following programs:
- IGP
- QCB
- Biochemistry
- Biological Sciences
- Cancer Biology
- Cell and Developmental Biology
- Chemical and Physical Biology
- Human Genetics
- Microbe-Host Interaction
- Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
- Molecular Pathology and Immunology
- Neuroscience
- Pharmacology
If you arrived at Vanderbilt after September 2024, you may need to request access individually. Please try logging in through our portal first, and if it doesn’t work, fill out this survey to let us know you need access.
How do I log in to BioRender?
To log in, visit the SOMBS BioRender portal. You can also visit your OneVU dashboard and click on the BioRender icon.
I have a subscription already. How do I cancel it?
To cancel your Paid Monthly or Annual Subscription, follow these instructions.
I already have a BioRender account. How do I link it to my Vanderbilt account?
If you previously signed up with your @vanderbilt.edu email, simply log in from the Vanderbilt University Basic Sciences Sign In Portal. Otherwise, please contact support@biorender.com.
I am part of Basic Sciences but I can’t access the service. What do I do?
If you arrived after September 2024 and meet the criteria detailed above, please fill out this survey.
I am a postdoc in VUMC and don’t have a VUNetID. Can I use my VUMC ID to log in?
Unless you work in a lab whose principal investigator has a primary appointment in an SOMBS department, you are not eligible to join. If you do qualify for access because you do work in an SOMBS lab but you do not have a VUnetID and password, please process your dual VU/VUMC identity as explained here and then come back and the survey from the last question. If you have an existing BioRender account linked to your VUMC email address, you’ll need to follow the steps described above (I already have a BioRender account. How do I link it to my Vanderbilt account?) to link it to your Vanderbilt email instead.
I work in a VUMC lab. Can I get access to the SOMBS license?
Unless you’re a Ph.D. student in one of the eligible programs listed above, then unfortunately no. We would suggest using a free BioRender account, signing up for the VUMC license waitlist on REDCap, or talking with your PI to see if your lab can pay for a license for you.