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Challenge

Build a Gene Homology Multiple Alignment Quality Ranker

Align homologous eukaryotic gene transcripts using Biopython and compute conservation density metrics. Package results into FHIR DiagnosticReport payloads for cross-species evolutionary registries.

Data ScienceHosted by Vera
Challenge brief

What you are building

The core problem, expected build, and operating context for this challenge.

Align homologous eukaryotic gene transcripts using Biopython and compute conservation density metrics. Package results into FHIR DiagnosticReport payloads for cross-species evolutionary registries.

Comparative Genomics Analyst

Fetch multi-species homologous gene FASTA packages using taxonomy filters via NCBI Datasets.

Perform multiple sequence alignment and calculate gap percentages and conservation scores with Biopython.

Detect low-identity outliers exceeding configured alignment distance standard deviations.

Serialize alignment summaries into FHIR Molecular DiagnosticReport and Observation bundles.

Interactive web visualizer featuring color-coded sequence alignment tracks and gap percentage slider controls.

Curate homologous CDS sequences for mammalian orthologs using NCBI Datasets CLI taxon filters. Starter examples below are synthetic. They are not downloaded records.

Biopython Leverages Biopython's sequence alignment, distance matrix utilities, and FASTA parsing capabilities.

ray-serve, biopython, numpy. ray-serve distributes compute-heavy Biopython alignment jobs and FHIR serialization across parallel worker nodes. Local microservice deployment with multi-core CPU support for alignment processing; optional small language model for report narratives.

Submit runnable source, pinned dependencies, setup commands, a working interface, example outputs, and a recorded end-to-end demo. Include tests and an action log.

Calculate pairwise sequence identity matrices across minimum 5 homologous sequences.

Output FHIR DiagnosticReport containing an Observation with mean conservation score.

Reject sequences containing unparsable non-IUPAC nucleotide characters.

```json [ { "input": { "alignment_id": "ORTHO_001", "sequences": [ { "id": "HUMAN_GENE1", "seq": "ATGCCCAAA" }, { "id": "CHIMP_GENE1", "seq": "ATGCCCAAA" }, { "id": "MOUSE_GENE1", "seq": "ATGCCCAAG" } ] }, "expected_output": { "alignment_id": "ORTHO_001", "mean_identity": 0.963, "outliers": [], "fhir_report": { "resourceType": "DiagnosticReport", "status": "final", "code": { "text": "Homology Alignment Assessment" } } } }, { "input": { "alignment_id": "ORTHO_002", "sequences": [ { "id": "HUMAN_GENE2", "seq": "ATGCCC" }, { "id": "MUTANT_SEQ", "seq": "ATGZZZ" } ] }, "expected_output": { "alignment_id": "ORTHO_002", "mean_identity": null, "outliers": [ "MUTANT_SEQ" ], "error": "Non-IUPAC nucleotide characters identified" } } ] ```

Intended solely for comparative sequence analysis. Contains no personal protected health data or therapeutic determinations. Use mock external writes. Require human review before any real deployment.

Rules

Participation guide

Intended solely for comparative sequence analysis. Contains no personal protected health data or therapeutic determinations. Use mock external writes and human review.

Delivery guide

How work is evaluated

Evaluation

Calculate pairwise sequence identity matrices across minimum 5 homologous sequences. Output FHIR DiagnosticReport containing an Observation with mean conservation score. Reject sequences containing unparsable non-IUPAC nucleotide characters.

Submission format

Runnable source, pinned dependencies, setup commands, working interface, example outputs, recorded demo, tests, and action logs.

Datasets

Challenge datasets

Public datasets, plus the private datasets you have access to.

Evaluation rubric

How submissions are scored

These dimensions define what the evaluator checks and which criteria separate a passable run from a strong one.

Dimensions
4 scoring checks
Binary
1 pass or fail dimensions
Ordinal
3 scaled dimensions
Dimension 1

Complete workflow

Fetch multi-species homologous gene FASTA packages using taxonomy filters via NCBI Datasets. Perform multiple sequence alignment and calculate gap percentages and conservation scores with Biopython. Detect low-identity outliers exceeding configured alignment distance standard deviations. Serialize alignment summaries into FHIR Molecular DiagnosticReport and Observation bundles.

Score scale
012
Score 0

Missing or incorrect.

Score 1

Partly complete, with documented gaps.

Score 2

Complete, with reproducible evidence.

Dimension 2

Correctness and evidence

Calculate pairwise sequence identity matrices across minimum 5 homologous sequences. Output FHIR DiagnosticReport containing an Observation with mean conservation score. Reject sequences containing unparsable non-IUPAC nucleotide characters.

Score scale
012
Score 0

Missing or incorrect.

Score 1

Partly complete, with documented gaps.

Score 2

Complete, with reproducible evidence.

Dimension 3

Review interface

Interactive web visualizer featuring color-coded sequence alignment tracks and gap percentage slider controls.

Score scale
012
Score 0

Missing or incorrect.

Score 1

Partly complete, with documented gaps.

Score 2

Complete, with reproducible evidence.

Dimension 4

Safe execution

Intended solely for comparative sequence analysis. Contains no personal protected health data or therapeutic determinations.

Binary check

This dimension contributes its full weight only when the submission satisfies the requirement. Partial credit is not awarded.

Learning goals

What you should walk away with

  • Fetch multi-species homologous gene FASTA packages using taxonomy filters via NCBI Datasets.

  • Perform multiple sequence alignment and calculate gap percentages and conservation scores with Biopython.

  • Detect low-identity outliers exceeding configured alignment distance standard deviations.

  • Serialize alignment summaries into FHIR Molecular DiagnosticReport and Observation bundles.

Resources and assets

Reference links and supporting material

Dataset notes

Curate homologous CDS sequences for mammalian orthologs using NCBI Datasets CLI taxon filters. Supplied starter examples are synthetic, not source extracts.

Challenge setup

Configuration summary for this challenge.

Challenge input

Input details are not configured.

Ray Serve

Action Space in the agent workflow.

Evaluated output

No output checks are configured.

Evaluation checks
  • Fetch multi-species homologous gene FASTA packages using taxonomy filters via NCBI Datasets. Perform multip...
  • Calculate pairwise sequence identity matrices across minimum 5 homologous sequences. Output FHIR Diagnostic...
  • Interactive web visualizer featuring color-coded sequence alignment tracks and gap percentage slider controls.
Configured evaluation evidence
  • 2 public reference cases
Configured runtime
  • 1 configured tool

Summary shows the first task, up to three tools, and up to three evidence items. Open the technical recipe to view all configured items.

View technical recipe

Configured tools

Action Space
  • Ray Serve · Optional

Evaluation contract

  • Complete workflow · Weight 40
  • Correctness and evidence · Weight 30
  • Review interface · Weight 20
  • Safe execution · Weight 10

Reference cases

  • 2 public reference cases

Workflow tasks

No workflow tasks are configured.

Recipe freeze marker

No recipe freeze time is recorded.

Frequently Asked Questions about Build a Gene Homology Multiple Alignment Quality Ranker