Chordoma Small Molecule Hackathon
This in-person hackathon is a full design-to-test workflow for TBXT (Brachyury), a clinically relevant transcription factor in chordoma and a notoriously difficult small-molecule target. Teams will design and prioritize non-covalent ligands via muni from onepot’s 3.4B compound library, with top compounds synthesized by onepot and tested in the lab by the Chordoma Foundation.
Who this is for
- Computational chemists and medicinal chemists interested in structure-based design
- Computational biologists and molecular designers interested in applying modern generative and screening workflows to real discovery problems
- Engineers building AI agents, scientific software, or tool models for chemistry and biology
- Researchers, builders, and technically curious scientists who want hands-on exposure
In collaboration with Rowan and onepot, this hackathon is about judgment: what looks structurally plausible? Chemically sane? Realistic to synthesize? Worth testing in the lab? Each team will submit 4 ranked compounds, a short description of the workflows used (models or tools, rationale for each choice, other computational details) supporting their prioritization.
This is a lead optimization challenge rather than an unconstrained de novo design competition. The focus is on whether modern small molecule workflows can identify credible binders for a difficult, clinically relevant target.
Thank you to Pillar VC for hosting, Rowan, onepot, and the Chordoma Foundation for partnering, and OpenRouter for sponsoring this event. We’re excited to bring together people and organizations across science, engineering, and computation.
Prizes
- A judging prize awarded to the team with the strongest overall submission, based on final demo, rationale, and compound prioritization
- A separate experimental prize eligibility through the TBXT Challenge for compounds that move forward to synthesis and testing and meet the published criteria
Schedule
1:00pm - doors open
1:30pm - announcements
2:00pm - team formation + hacking begins
6:30pm - dinner
7:00pm - final submissions + demos
7:30pm - judging + wrap-up
Logistics
- Bring a laptop
- Come solo or with a team - you’ll have a chance to form teams on-site
- Dinner and drinks provided
Hope to see you there!