Ten Simples Rules on How to Organise a Bioinformatics Hackathon

The completion of the human genome sequence triggered worldwide efforts to unravel the secrets hidden in its deceptively simple code. Numerous bioinformatics projects were undertaken to hunt for genes, predict their protein products, function and post-translational modifications, analyse protein-protein interactions, etc. Many novel analytic and predictive computer programmes fully optimised for manipulating human genome sequence data have been developed, whereas considerably less effort has been invested in exploring the many thousands of other available genomes, from unicellular organisms to plants and non-human animals. Nevertheless, a detailed understanding of these organisms can have a significant impact on human health and well-being.New advances in genome sequencing technologies, bioinformatics, automation, artificial intelligence, etc., enable us to extend the reach of genomic research to all organisms. To this aim gather, develop and implement new bioinformatics solutions (usually in the form of software) is pivotal. A helpful model, often used by the bioinformatics community, is the so-called hackathon.