2026 HIGHLIGHTS

HackRare 2026 brought together 209 undergraduate and graduate students from 42 universities across the U.S. and beyond. Held at Harvard’s Student Organization Center at Hilles in Cambridge, MA from February 28 - March 1, 2026, the event enabled interdisciplinary collaboration among participants, mentors, speakers, and judges to drive progress in rare disease research and care.

Our keynote speakers for HackRare 2026 were Dr. Sonia Vallabh, co-leader of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard’s initiative to develop preventive therapies for prion disease, and Dr. Nina Gold, Director of Prenatal Medical Genetics and Associate Director for Research at Mass General Brigham Personalized Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.

This year, in place of Lightning Talks, we expanded our focus on patient organizations. The weekend before the hackathon, we hosted a webinar series featuring Necia Sabin of Heterotaxy Connection and Dr. Neena Nizar of The Jansen’s Foundation, giving participants the opportunity to learn directly from patient advocates and community leaders. During HackRare 2026, participants also heard from representatives of the International Prader-Willi Syndrome Organisation (IPWSO) and the Recurrent Respiratory Papillomatosis Foundation (RRPF), gaining deeper insight into the experiences, challenges, and unmet needs of individuals affected by these rare diseases.

Altogether, judges were shown 43 projects ranging from differential diagnostic tools to therapeutic repurposing pipelines to cardiac channelopathy trackers. Projects were evaluated on impact, novelty, execution, feasibility, scalability, and presentation, with winning teams in Genomic Diagnostics, Therapeutic Targets, and Symptom Management tracks each receiving a $2,000 prize. We also recognized outstanding participants through the HackRare Community Award, powered by NORD®, which provided recipients with scholarships to attend the NORD Breakthrough Summit in Washington, D.C.

HackRare 2026 once again showed the power of interdisciplinary collaboration to accelerate progress in rare disease research and care, and we look forward to broadening this impact in future years.

HACKATHON PROJECTS

EXPLORE HERE

PROGRAMMING

209 STUDENTS

56 TEAMS

This year, we welcomed over 200 undergraduate and graduate students from universities across the country, including Berea College, Boston University, Brown University, Clark University, Columbia University, Duke University, Georgia Tech, Harvard University, MIT, New York University, Northeastern University, Purdue University, Rice University, Smith College, Stony Brook University, University of California, Irvine, University of Chicago, University of New South Wales, University of Pennsylvania, Yale University, and more.

12 JUDGES

11 MENTORS

Our judging and mentorship panels brought together leaders from academia, biotech, clinical research, data science, and the rare disease community—representing institutions such as Harvard, GeneDx, Astellas, NORD®, Korro Bio, the Snow Foundation, TargetCancer, and more.

4 PATIENT ORGANIZATIONS

21 NORD® SCHOLARS

2026 NORD® Scholars at HackRare 2026

Building on the success of last year’s program, we continued our NORD® Scholars Program to provide merit- and need-based scholarships to talented students from across the country. By covering travel expenses, these scholarships reduced financial and geographic barriers to participation and enabled a broader range of voices to contribute to rare disease innovation. Through this initiative, 21 students representing 13 universities received a total of $5,000 in funding, bringing diverse perspectives and new ideas to the HackRare community.

NOTABLE PROJECTS

Click on each project’s image to visit its dedicated page and learn more.

CheckMate

Genomic Diagnostics Winners:
Sanil Desai, Henry Greenhut, Akshay Vakharia

Knockout

Symptom Management Winners:
Dishita Agrawal, Claudia Fernandez Perez, Heewon Seo, Dat Tran, Youwei Zhen

Magellan

Therapeutic Targets Winners:
Alexander Kang, Jishnuu Senthil Kumar, David Oleksy, Suchi Patel, Shiven Sasipalli

SleepGuardian

Symptom Management Honorable Mentions:
Yahya Alhusseinawi, Kumayl Raza

RareSight

Therapeutic Targets Honorable Mentions:
Lincoln Glaros, Enoch Sanchez

This award recognizes teams that exemplify the spirit of our hackathon through their dedication to teamwork, mutual support, and respect. Selected by our Organizing Team, these teams have demonstrated exceptional collaboration, kindness, and inclusivity while also showing a deep passion for making a difference in the rare disease community.

Powered by the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD®), selected recipients were awarded with scholarships to attend the NORD Breakthrough Summit in Washington, D.C.