The goal of this year’s machine learning challenge is to design algorithms that will enable a more accurate diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), affecting millions of people worldwide. The algorithms created for this three-part challenge will offer a high-resolution view of IBD by integrating pathology images of inflamed gut tissue with spatial transcriptomics data. Genes will be identified that will serve as markers for potential cancerous regions in the gut, facilitating the early detection and treatment of colorectal cancer. The gene panels developed by top performers will be tested in patient samples through lab experiments at the Broad Institute!

The challenge is now live (as of October 28, 2024) and will run through January 31, 2025.

Register now on Crunch at broad.io/MLC-2024.

Check out the challenge overview.

Watch our lecture series for the biology, technology, and data background necessary to participate in the competition.

More information, such as competition rules, timelines, and datasets, are available on Crunch.

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The challenge will be offered as an IAP course in 2025 for MIT students:

6.S099 Machine Learning Challenge for Biomedical Discoveries

Instructors: Caroline Uhler, Paul Blainey, Jonathan Weissman

Schedule: Tuesday, Jan. 7 - Thursday, Jan. 30 (Tuesdays and Thursdays, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m., room 26-168 and on Zoom)