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Challenge

Build a Multi-Species Sequence Catalog Contamination Reviewer

Evaluate multi-species FASTA sequence packages downloaded from public repositories to identify cross-taxa read contamination. Generate structured taxonomic audit summaries and quarantine contaminated records before catalog federation.

Data ScienceHosted by Vera
Challenge brief

What you are building

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

Evaluate multi-species FASTA sequence packages downloaded from public repositories to identify cross-taxa read contamination. Generate structured taxonomic audit summaries and quarantine contaminated records before catalog federation.

Bioinformatics Biocurator

Ingest multi-species FASTA records and target taxon labels downloaded via NCBI Datasets packages.

Scan sequences with Biopython to calculate base composition and k-mer similarity against target taxa.

Detect alien sequence contamination and low-complexity artifact clusters across catalog entries.

Generate a verified multi-species curation report with quarantined sequence accessions for human sign-off.

Browser dashboard displaying sequence accession queues, taxonomic match confidence scores, and flag-for-quarantine controls.

Download public gene packages using NCBI Datasets CLI (--taxon human, rodent, yeast) or mock via simplified FASTA fixture archives. Starter examples below are synthetic. They are not downloaded records.

NCBI Datasets gene download Extract multi-species FASTA sequence streams and taxon identifiers specified in NCBI Datasets download flags (--taxon and gene data reports).

dspy, biopython, pydantic. dspy compiles structured assertion rules to evaluate sequence classification reasoning and explain foreign contaminant flags. Local or hosted LLM with structured JSON output capabilities for taxonomic explanation.

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.

Parses input multi-species FASTA files with Biopython SeqIO without unhandled syntax exceptions.

Correctly identifies cross-species sequence contamination exceeding a 20% divergence threshold.

Emits a normalized JSON quarantine report containing accession, detected taxon, and confidence score.

Supports human biocurator review by generating override tokens for ambiguous sequence entries.

```json [ { "input": { "catalog_id": "CAT-2026-01", "declared_taxon": "Homo sapiens", "records": [ { "accession": "SEQ_HS_001", "sequence": "ATGCGATCGATCGATCGATCGATCGATC" }, { "accession": "SEQ_CONTAM_002", "sequence": "GGCCGGCCGGCCAATTCCGGAATTCCGG" } ], "divergence_threshold": 0.25 }, "expected_output": { "catalog_id": "CAT-2026-01", "reviewed_count": 2, "quarantined": [ { "accession": "SEQ_CONTAM_002", "divergence_score": 0.42, "flag": "suspected_cross_contamination", "action": "quarantine" } ], "passed": [ "SEQ_HS_001" ] } }, { "input": { "catalog_id": "CAT-2026-02", "declared_taxon": "Mus musculus", "records": [ { "accession": "SEQ_MM_001", "sequence": "NNNNNNNNNNNN" } ], "divergence_threshold": 0.2 }, "expected_output": { "catalog_id": "CAT-2026-02", "reviewed_count": 1, "quarantined": [ { "accession": "SEQ_MM_001", "divergence_score": 1, "flag": "undetermined_low_quality_bases", "action": "reject" } ], "passed": [] } } ] ```

Research-only sequence catalog cleaning tool; does not provide diagnostic classification or clinical decisions. Use mock external writes. Require human review before any real deployment.

Rules

Participation guide

Research-only sequence catalog cleaning tool; does not provide diagnostic classification or clinical decisions. Use mock external writes and human review.

Delivery guide

How work is evaluated

Evaluation

Parses input multi-species FASTA files with Biopython SeqIO without unhandled syntax exceptions. Correctly identifies cross-species sequence contamination exceeding a 20% divergence threshold. Emits a normalized JSON quarantine report containing accession, detected taxon, and confidence score. Supports human biocurator review by generating override tokens for ambiguous sequence entries.

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

Ingest multi-species FASTA records and target taxon labels downloaded via NCBI Datasets packages. Scan sequences with Biopython to calculate base composition and k-mer similarity against target taxa. Detect alien sequence contamination and low-complexity artifact clusters across catalog entries. Generate a verified multi-species curation report with quarantined sequence accessions for human sign-off.

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

Parses input multi-species FASTA files with Biopython SeqIO without unhandled syntax exceptions. Correctly identifies cross-species sequence contamination exceeding a 20% divergence threshold. Emits a normalized JSON quarantine report containing accession, detected taxon, and confidence score. Supports human biocurator review by generating override tokens for ambiguous sequence entries.

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

Browser dashboard displaying sequence accession queues, taxonomic match confidence scores, and flag-for-quarantine 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

Research-only sequence catalog cleaning tool; does not provide diagnostic classification or clinical decisions.

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

  • Ingest multi-species FASTA records and target taxon labels downloaded via NCBI Datasets packages.

  • Scan sequences with Biopython to calculate base composition and k-mer similarity against target taxa.

  • Detect alien sequence contamination and low-complexity artifact clusters across catalog entries.

  • Generate a verified multi-species curation report with quarantined sequence accessions for human sign-off.

Resources and assets

Reference links and supporting material

Dataset notes

Download public gene packages using NCBI Datasets CLI (--taxon human, rodent, yeast) or mock via simplified FASTA fixture archives. Supplied starter examples are synthetic, not source extracts.

Challenge setup

Configuration summary for this challenge.

Challenge input

Input details are not configured.

DSPy

Prompt and LM program optimization framework.

Evaluated output

No output checks are configured.

Evaluation checks
  • Ingest multi-species FASTA records and target taxon labels downloaded via NCBI Datasets packages. Scan sequ...
  • Parses input multi-species FASTA files with Biopython SeqIO without unhandled syntax exceptions. Correctly...
  • Browser dashboard displaying sequence accession queues, taxonomic match confidence scores, and flag-for-qua...
Configured evaluation evidence
  • 2 public reference cases
Configured runtime
  • 3 configured tools

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
  • DSPy · Optional
Training Infra
  • DSPy · Optional
Orchestration
  • DSPy · 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 Multi-Species Sequence Catalog Contamination Reviewer