Hackathon 2026
Registration is now open! Apply here by 29th May 2026.
Welcome to the University of Glasgow Computational Biology Hackathon.
Are you passionate about unravelling the mysteries of life through code and data? Do you dream of collaborating with brilliant minds to tackle complex biological problems? Look no further! Our exclusive hackathon is designed for researchers, students, and enthusiasts who share a common goal: advancing computational biology.
See what we got up to last year!
Timeline
This year we have decided to change the process of collecting project proposals. We are going to start with an initial expression of interest and an abstract submission. Below is the outlined hackathon timeline.
Step 1: Full project proposal deadline (email us: 31st March 2026 (Closed). Following the project submission, the team will review your proposals and liaise further with you to help shape exciting but achievable projects.
Step 2: Participants application form opens 12th May 2026, and closes 29th May 2026 (now open!)
Step 3: Hackathon event, 10th-12th June 2026
Let us know if you have any questions, we can’t wait to see your ideas!
Event Details
Date: 10th-12th June, 2026
Time: 10am-4pm
Location: McMillan Round Reading Room, University Ave, Glasgow, G12 8QF
Why Participate?
Interdisciplinary Exploration: Dive into the intersection of biology, computer science, and big data analysis.
Networking: Connect with fellow researchers and forge collaborative relationships across the University.
Challenging Problems: We have curated an exciting range of projects with associated data. Choose your challenge!
Skill Enhancement: Learn new coding and data handling skills.
Who Should Attend?
Whatever your career stage or job title, we would love to hear from you if you have skills you think could benefit a team. Whether you are from a wet-lab, dry-lab, or non-lab background, we would love you to bring your skills to a highly interdisciplinary team. We strongly encourage those in non-research roles and those from non-traditional scientific backgrounds to apply, and we select participants based on skills and enthusiasm, not perceived status!
Undergrads: Are you interested in problem solving? Do you have programming skills you wish to apply to biological problems? Do you have biological knowledge you can bring to a team? Are you wondering if research is a potential next step? Sign up!
Postgrads: Whether you’re a Masters or a PhD candidate, this hackathon is your chance to apply computational techniques to real-world biological questions.
Researchers: Join forces with fellow scientists to crack complex problems. Collaborate, brainstorm, and innovate!
Scientific/Technical Staff: Can you bring your expertise or insight to help solve biological problems? Please sign up!
PIs: Share your expertise and mentor the next generation of computational biologists.
The Projects
ClarVar: An Open-Source Variant Annotation and Prioritisation Pipeline for Clinical Genomics
Clinical sequencing can produce thousands of variants per sample, but narrowing these down to the few that matter remains a major bottleneck. This project will build a lightweight, reproducible pipeline that brings together annotation, population allele frequency, and clinical evidence to help prioritise variants for research and clinical genomics.
Dissecting Protein Design Methods for Nipah Glycoprotein Binders
AI-based protein design can generate large numbers of potential binders, but predicting which ones will work experimentally is still a major challenge. This project uses a unique dataset of designed Nipah virus glycoprotein binders, including lab validation data, to explore what sequence, structure, and modelling features best predict binding success.
Scaling data process pipeline for large-scale whole slide image deidentification
Whole slide imaging is increasingly important in biomedical research, but these files are huge and can contain sensitive information that must be removed before sharing or reuse. This project will focus on building a scalable pipeline for deidentifying large digital pathology datasets safely and efficiently.
Building a low-cost AI-assisted ligand screening pipeline
AI tools are rapidly changing early-stage drug discovery, but many ligand screening workflows remain expensive, fragmented, or difficult to reproduce. This project will explore how emerging protein-ligand prediction and structure modelling tools can be combined into an accessible, low-cost screening pipeline.
Exploring fusion genes in Cancer
Gene fusions are important cancer-associated events that can reshape gene function and contribute to tumour development. This project will analyse RNA-seq data from cancer samples generated at the CRUK Scotland Institute to identify and explore fusion events across different contexts.
Unravelling the accessory genome of Enterococcus faecium by combining whole-genome sequencing and large language models
Enterococcus faecium is an important hospital-associated pathogen, with antibiotic-resistant strains posing a growing public health concern. This project will combine pan-genome analysis, workflow development, and genomic language models to investigate how accessory genes vary across E. faecium genomes and what this might reveal about adaptation and resistance.
FAQs
Q1: I want to participate but worried about my coding skills/AI knowledge/etc?
A1: Hackathons are a great environment to learn, so don’t worry, just be upfront with your team lead. You can still contribute in so many ways, like ideas, writing, biological knowledge, management, etc.
Q2: I can only attend 2 out of the 3 days. Is this a problem?
A2: While attending the full duration of the Hackathon would be beneficial, we understand that committing 3 days might be difficult for some. Please include that information in your application form.
Q3: I am an undergrad/master student and worried about my skills suitability.
A3: See Q1. We welcome participants from diverse backgrounds and you can contribute in many different ways. Also, please note that some projects require initial preparation before the Hackathon.
Q4: What if I don’t know any other participants?
A4: This is a great opportunity to get to know people from across the university! You don’t need to have spoken to anyone prior to signing up, you will be made very welcome, and there will be many other people in the same position.
Q5: Will I definitely be included in the team for my preferred project?
A5: We aim to offer every participant a spot on their preferred team but this may not be possible if a project is oversubscribed. If there is a project you don’t want to be considered for, please indicate this on the form.
Registration
Sign up here! Registration closes 29th May 2026
Acknowledgements
We are hugely grateful to our sponsors – without their support this event would not be possible!
