DNAForge & MTC Berkeley: AI × Biology Hackathon

Solve a real biology problem using the latest advances in AI! On November 14th in Berkeley, we’re bringing biologists, AI engineers and software builders together for DNAForge’s AI × Biology Hackathon, co-hosted with MTC Berkeley. Saturday, November 14th, 2026 9:00 AM–9:00 PM Pacific · Berkeley, CA About 100 participants Applications take under 5 minutes. Apply by October 25th for priority consideration. What you’ll get Tackle challenges in therapeutics, biosecurity or agricultural resilience with compute and scientific tools supported by our sponsors. Meet companies that are hiring and get in-person feedback from scientists, engineers and founders. Compete for $1,500+ in cash prizes, with sponsor credits and opportunities to commercialize selected projects. Challenges Therapeutics. Help researchers design, evaluate or deliver new treatments. Biosecurity. Build practical defenses for biological risks, laboratory safety and preparedness. Agricultural resilience. Work on healthier crops, stronger food systems and biological climate adaptation. Raycaster. Build AI research tools and evaluation environments using real, lightly redacted investigational new drug (IND) filings. Biobase — Find the Right Patients. A featured challenge within therapeutics focused on finding suitable patients and samples for clinical trials and biomarker research. Indicate your interest in the optional three-sentence application question. Who should apply Biology students, early-career scientists, wet-lab researchers, computational biologists, clinicians, agricultural scientists, AI researchers, software engineers and designers. Bring your biology expertise, engineering skills or both. Judges and mentors Ali Mottaghi — clinical AI Alex Telford — Convoke Sam Seymour — Biobase Roya Amini-Naieni — Trilobio Aqib Hasnain — Mithrl Ben Shababo — Modal Akira Nishii — GXL Bryan Tegomoh — physician-epidemiologist Sanat Mishra — BioStack Mariëlle van Kooten — Powerhouse Biology Colin Cook — XDemics Max Kemper — Stanford University, Bioengineering Nick Heredia, PhD — VP of R&D at SafeTraces Phil Spuhler — Sansimeon Yash Gaur — VP of Deployment at Synphony Ridvan Yesiloglu — biomedical AI Nicholas Jackson — UCSF Sean Jungbluth — BioKEA Grisha Sheldunov, Amphiform — Technical Judge Applying and teams Come with teammates or on your own. Everyone applies individually, and we’ll help admitted participants form teams before the event. Every teammate must submit their own application. Listing teammates does not apply for them. Admitted participants will be able to explore permitted challenge materials before choosing a challenge. Teams can adjust at check-in. Applying does not guarantee admission. DNAForge reviews each application for this limited-capacity event. The event is in person. Every applicant must confirm they can attend in Berkeley for the full participant program. Admissions timeline October 25th: Priority deadline. Applications received by this date receive first consideration. October 28th: First decisions. The first admission decisions are planned for this date. November 6th: Final cutoff. Last day to submit an individual application. November 7th: Final waitlist decisions. Remaining applicants receive their planned final status. Host and event support Hosted by DNAForge and MTC Berkeley. Supported by Modal, Boltz, Tamarind Bio, GXL, Talus Bio, BenchFlow, Synphony, Biobase, Raycaster and Carbon Fellowship. Applicant data: DNAForge and event sponsors can view your name, email address, application answers, LinkedIn profile, any other links you provide, and application status. Sponsors may contact applicants, including those not admitted, for recruiting and marketing.