HACKATHON COMPLETED

MedAI Hackathon 2026 Complete

Thank you to everyone who made MedAI Hackathon 2026 unforgettable. This page is a short look back at the weekend: what we did, who showed up and the real-world AI problems teams took on at the Center for Computing & Data Sciences.

April 10–11, 2026 Fri 3–6 PM, Sat 9 AM–6 PM
Boston University Center for Computing & Data Sciences
$10,000 in Prizes Plus GPU access & mentorship

Event recap

Looking back at April 10–11, 2026

More than 230 people from across Boston University registered for two days of onboarding, team formation, mentorship and building. Participants worked in mixed teams on challenges sourced from BU labs, with secure data access, GPU-backed compute and support from organizers and domain experts.

Challenge tracks

What teams worked on

Three faculty-led tracks drew on de-identified research data. Teams built models under hackathon constraints.

Track 1

Early-stage lung cancer phenotyping

Using H&E whole-slide images from lung resections and biopsies, teams modeled subtle histology patterns linked to vascular invasion and aggressive growth.

Track 2

Amyloid PET for Alzheimer’s disease

Participants worked with 3D amyloid PET scans and tracer labels to predict standardized Centiloid burden.

Track 3

Acute tubular injury from proteomics

From pre-biopsy SomaScan protein profiles and clinical covariates in the Boston Kidney Biopsy Cohort, teams predicted acute tubular injury.

Challenges were sourced from BU research groups and aligned with the university's emphasis on interdisciplinary convergence in health and biomedicine.

Community & impact

What we saw together

The hackathon brought together over 230 registrants from across BU for a high-energy weekend centered on biomedical AI: cross-disciplinary teams, hands-on modeling, and conversations that bridged clinics, labs and computing.

The event reflected BU's commitment to convergent research by connecting medicine, data science, and computing in a way that was technically ambitious and community-driven.

230+
Registrants
2
Vibrant Event Days
GPU
HPC Compute Provided
1:1
Expert Mentorship
Event Schedule

Two-Day Event Summary

MedAI Hackathon 2026 ran across two vibrant days at Boston University. Day 1 focused on onboarding, team formation and challenge orientation, while Day 2 featured focused project development, judging and awards.

01

Day 1 - Kickoff & Collaboration

Onboarding, team formation, and challenge setup
Summary Participants checked in, formed teams of 3-6 members, connected with faculty mentors and prepared development environments.
02

Day 2 - Build, Demo, and Awards

Project sprint, presentations, and recognition
Summary Teams built solutions to faculty-sourced biomedical AI challenges and celebrated the top projects during the awards ceremony.
Prizes & Recognition

$10,000 in Prizes Awarded

Top teams were awarded cash prizes and recognized for their contributions to biomedical AI research.

1st Place $1,000
2nd Place $500
3rd Place $250

* Prize amounts were awarded per challenge track and represent the total reward for each winning team (shared among members).

Our Sponsors

Supported By

Proudly backed by leading BU centers and departments advancing biomedical AI and health data science.

Participation

Who Participated

Eligibility

The event was open to the entire BU community across all disciplines. Diverse teams were strongly encouraged.

Teams

Participants formed teams of 3-6 members during Friday's team formation sessions. Teams could tackle multiple challenges, with most focusing on one or two tracks.

What Was Included

  • Friday training & onboarding
  • Faculty mentorship
  • GPU/HPC compute access
  • Meals, snacks & swag
  • Project templates & starter repos
  • Networking with researchers
The Team

Organized By

VK

Vijaya B. Kolachalama, PhD

Medicine, Computer Science, CDS

JB

Jennifer Beane-Ebel, PhD

Medicine

KB

Katia Bulekova

Research Computing Services

KB

Charles Jahnke

Research Computing Services

LX

Lingyi Xu

Computing & Data Sciences

VJ

Varuna Jasodanand

Graduate Medical Sciences

SP

Shreyas Puducheri

School of Medicine

RS

Rishi Shah

School of Medicine

KE

Karim Elzokm

Electrical & Computer Engineering

SK

Samyuktha Kathirvel

Computer Science

SK

Subhrangshu Bit

Computer Science

SK

Osman B. Guney

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Questions & Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

MedAI Hackathon 2026 was open to the entire BU community across all disciplines. We encouraged diverse teams with backgrounds in medicine, biology, data science and more.
We helped match participants with teams during Friday evening's team formation session. Teams could tackle as many challenges as they liked, though most focused on one or two tracks.
Teams used Python, PyTorch, TensorFlow, scikit-learn, JAX, and TerrierGPT on BU-supported stacks where possible. GPU/HPC compute access was provided, and organizers helped participants get credentials and repo templates set up during the onboarding session.
All datasets were de-identified and IRB-compliant. Data was only accessible through secure BU systems. Access credentials were provisioned during the onboarding session.
We awarded $10,000 in total prizes: $1,000 for 1st place, $500 for 2nd place, and $250 for 3rd place per challenge track. Additional prizes included swag and recognition.
Disclaimer