PharmaHacks 2026

Overview

PharmaHacks 2026 invites you to tackle real-world problems in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries using machine learning. You'll choose from three challenges: predicting chemical toxicity, forecasting drug-target binding, or detecting dementia from EEG data. This is a great opportunity to apply your ML skills to life sciences and potentially discover new solutions.

Requirements

This hackathon is open to students who are above the legal age of majority in their country, and participation requires a team. While teams can consist of 2 participants, the specific team size is not explicitly stated beyond this. You must build a well-documented ML solution and prepare a team presentation. Specific problems and datasets will be presented during the opening ceremony and posted on the PharmaHacks 2026 Discord server.

Prizes

There is a total of $CAD 1,600 in cash prizes. The first-place winner for the Predicting Acute Toxicity challenge will receive $CAD 200. The first-place winner for the Compound-Target Binding Affinity challenge gets $CAD 600. The first-place winner for the Detecting Dementia from EEG challenge receives $CAD 800.