Virtual Cell Challenge
The challenge, hosted by Arc Institute at virtualcellchallenge.org and sponsored by NVIDIA, 10x Genomics, and Ultima Genomics, is focused on a fundamental challenge in biology. Entrants will use AI models to predict effects of single gene perturbations in cells. With total prizes worth $175,000, the challenge is part of Arc's efforts to accelerate AI modeling of biology, including by inspiring the creation of high-quality datasets and helping establish standardized benchmarks for virtual cell modeling.
Advances in single-cell RNA-seq technologies now enable large-scale measurements of cellular responses to genetic and chemical perturbations, fueling this exciting era of predictive cellular modeling. The Virtual Cell Challenge is a recurring, open, community-driven challenge aimed at evaluating and improving computational models that predict cellular responses to genetic or chemical perturbations. In 2026, the Challenge raises the bar to multi-context generalization and zero-shot prediction. We are not providing any net-new training dataset this year. Participants are free to use the H1…
saved by
related reading
- Virtual Cell Challengevirtualcellchallenge.org
- Virtual Cell Challengevirtualcellchallenge.org
- Virtual Cell Challenge 2025 Wrap-Up: Winners and Reflections | Arc Institutearcinstitute.org
- Arc Institute’s first virtual cell model: <span style="font-variant: small-caps">S<span style="font-weight: bolder">tate</span></span> | Arc Institutearcinstitute.org
- Arc Virtual Cell Challenge: A Primerfleetwood.dev
- Evo 2 Can Design Entire Genomesasimov.press
- Paving the way for agents in biology \ Anthropicanthropic.com
- scGen predicts single-cell perturbation responsesnature.com
- Towards building a World Model to simulate perturbation-induced cellular dynamics by AlphaCellbiorxiv.org
- Gap Mapgap-map.org
- Tahoe 100M: The World's Largest Single-Cell Dataset, Open-Sourced as the Inaugural Contribution to Arc Institute's New Virtual Cell Atlas | Tahoetahoebio.ai
- Arc Institutearcinstitute.org