What's next
Upcoming Undiagnosed Hackathons
Every Undiagnosed Hackathon is organized by Wilhelm Foundation in collaboration with local partners.
Meet us at ESHG 2027 in Rotterdam, Netherlands — the Harbour Hackers Edition
The European Undiagnosed Hackathon: a full-day event at Erasmus MC on Friday 11 June 2027, the day before ESHG 2027, hosted by Erasmus MC and Wilhelm Foundation in collaboration with ESHG, ERDERA/ERNs and ECHO.
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Meet us at ASHG 2027 in Nashville, USA
An Undiagnosed Hackathon workshop at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) 2027 Annual Meeting, October 2027 in Nashville, Tennessee. The workshop date and how to take part will be announced.
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A unique model of collaboration
What is an Undiagnosed Hackathon?
The Undiagnosed Hackathon is not a conference. During this 48-hour event, multidisciplinary teams — clinicians, geneticists, bioinformaticians, molecular biologists, scientists, AI specialists, developers and other experts — work intensively together on the most complex unsolved cases. There is no hierarchy and there are no silos: nobody is there to promote themselves or their organization. Each Undiagnosed Hackathon gathers about 150 collaborators from 35 countries — from all continents — and 48 hours is only the beginning: collaboration continues with deeper analysis, functional studies, validation and follow-up.
350 million
people estimated to be living with undiagnosed diseases worldwide
~40%
of People Living With Undiagnosed Diseases can get an answer from genome sequencing today
~60%
remain without a diagnosis — the Undiagnosed Hackathon is designed specifically for this 60%
Without a diagnosis, there is no name for the disease, no prognosis, no treatment and no way for families to receive genetic advice about why two or more children in the same family may be affected by the same undiagnosed disease. A late diagnosis can lead to irreversible consequences — and in the worst case, it can be fatal. Diagnosis changes everything.
How the Undiagnosed Hackathon works →
No silos. No hierarchy. Only work.
Different expertise • New technologies • New perspectives • With the goal to find new ways to solve the undiagnosed diseases
Centred around the individual
Making the invisible visible
Local People Living With Undiagnosed Diseases and their families attend the Undiagnosed Hackathon in person.
At the heart of the Undiagnosed Hackathon are the People Living With Undiagnosed Diseases and their families. Meeting the individuals behind the data changes how everyone in the room works: these are children and adults who, despite years of investigations and the best efforts of medical and scientific experts, are still waiting for answers.
Since 2025, the Undiagnosed Hackathon is a research project. Any findings are diagnostic leads that must be validated by the individual's own clinician before they can become a confirmed clinical diagnosis. We know that when one individual receives a diagnosis, it can unlock answers for many others around the world.
Take part
Be part of the Undiagnosed Hackathon
Everyone joins through an application. We review every application carefully and work to give as many people as possible the opportunity to join.
