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. 2024 Nov;56(11):2287-2294.
doi: 10.1038/s41588-024-01941-1.

Pushing the boundaries of rare disease diagnostics with the help of the first Undiagnosed Hackathon

Angelica Maria Delgado-Vega #  1   2 Helene Cederroth #  3 Fulya Taylan #  4   5 Katja Ekholm  4   5 Marlene Ek  4   5 Håkan Thonberg  4   5 Anders Jemt  6   7 Daniel Nilsson  4   8 Jesper Eisfeldt  4   8 Kristine Bilgrav Saether  8 Ida Höijer  9   10 Ozlem Akgun-Dogan  11   12   13 Yui Asano  14 Tahsin Stefan Barakat  15   16   17 Dominyka Batkovskyte  5 Gareth Baynam  18   19   20   21 Olaf Bodamer  22 Wanna Chetruengchai  23   24 Pádraic Corcoran  9   10 Madeline Couse  25 Daniel Danis  26 German Demidov  27 Eisuke Dohi  28 Mattias Erhardsson  29 Luis Fernandez-Luna  30 Toyofumi Fujiwara  31 Neha Garg  32 Roberto Giugliani  33   34   35   36 Claudia Gonzaga-Jauregui  30 Giedre Grigelioniene  4   5 Tudor Groza  18   37   38   39 Cecilia Gunnarsson  40 Anna Hammarsjö  4   5 Charles Kumi Hammond  11   41 Özden Hatirnaz Ng  12   13   42 Sirisha Hesketh  43 Dineshani Hettiarachchi  44 Maria Johansson Soller  4   5 Umn Ahmed Kirmani  45 Martin Kjellberg  46 Malin Kvarnung  4   5 Oleg Kvlividze  47   48 Kristina Lagerstedt-Robinson  4   5 Paul Lasko  49 Timo Lassmann  50 Lynette Y S Lau  51 Steven Laurie  52   53 Weng Khong Lim  37   54   55   56 Zhandong Liu  57 Mariya Lysenkova Wiklander  10   58 Prince Makay  59 Alassane Baneye Maiga  60 Carolina Maya-González  5 M Stephen Meyn  61   62 Ramprasad Neethiraj  6   63 Vincenzo Nigro  64   65 Felix Nordgren  66 Jessica Nordlund  10   58 Sara Orrsjö  67   68 Jesper Ottosson  67   68 Ugur Ozbek  12   69 Özkan Özdemir  12   42 Clyde Partin  70   71 David A Pearce  72   73   74   75 Raquel Peck  76 Annie Pedersen  67   68 Maria Pettersson  4   5 Monnat Pongpanich  77   78 Manuel Posada de la Paz  79   80 Arun Ramani  81 Juan Andres Romero  82 Vanessa I Romero  82 Richard Rosenquist  4   5   7 Aung Min Saw  83   84 Matthew Spencer  83 Eva-Lena Stattin  85 Chalurmpon Srichomthong  23   24 Isabel Tapia-Paez  86 Domenica Taruscio  87   88 Julie P Taylor  89 Tinatin Tkemaladze  90   91   92 Ian Tully  83   93 Zeynep Tümer  94   95 Wendy A G van Zelst-Stams  96 Alain Verloes  97   98 Emma Västerviga  99   100 Sailan Wang  86 Rachel Yang  101   102 Shinya Yamamoto  103   104 Vicente A Yépez  105 Qing Zhang  89 Vorasuk Shotelersuk  23   24 Samuel Agyei Wiafe  106 Yasemin Alanay  11   12   13 Lorenzo D Botto  107 Salman Kirmani  108 Aimé Lumaka  59   109   110 Elizabeth Emma Palmer  111   112 Ratna Dua Puri  32   113 Valtteri Wirta  4   6 Anna Lindstrand  4   5 Orion J Buske  114 Mikk Cederroth  3 Ann Nordgren  115   116   117   118
Affiliations

Pushing the boundaries of rare disease diagnostics with the help of the first Undiagnosed Hackathon

Angelica Maria Delgado-Vega et al. Nat Genet. 2024 Nov.

Abstract

The first-ever Undiagnosed Hackathon was a groundbreaking event held by the Wilhelm Foundation, the Karolinska Undiagnosed Disease Program, and PhenoTips in collaboration with UDNI to solve medical mysteries and advance diagnostics for undiagnosed rare diseases. Nearly 100 healthcare professionals and researchers from 28 countries participated, working intensively for 48 hours to diagnose 10 families with undiagnosed rare diseases. This innovative approach to precision diagnostics highlighted the power of international, multidisciplinary collaboration and patient partnership, yielding promising results for patients seeking answers and benefiting the entire rare diseases community.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Undiagnosed families from eight UDNI member countries were selected. After informed consent was obtained, blood samples were collected from patients and their families. DNA and RNA were sequenced using short-read whole genome and RNA sequencing, long-read genome and RNA sequencing and EPIC methylation array. Standardized deep phenotype data, together with the genomic data, were analyzed in multidisciplinary teams, which worked intensively for 48 hours to interpret the data. Four families received a diagnosis, candidate genes were found in four other families, and recommendations for further studies were provided for all undiagnosed cases. Undiagnosed Hackathon logo created by Yui Asano. Figure created with BioRender.com

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