Virtual Cell Challenge: Toward a Turing test for the virtual cell.

Journal: Cell
Published Date: Jun 26, 2025

Abstract

Virtual cells are an emerging frontier at the intersection of artificial intelligence and biology. A key goal of these cell state models is predicting cellular responses to perturbations. The Virtual Cell Challenge is being established to catalyze progress toward this goal. This recurring and open benchmark competition from the Arc Institute will provide an evaluation framework, purpose-built datasets, and a venue for accelerating model development.

Authors

  • Yusuf H Roohani
    Platform Technology and Science, GlaxoSmithKline, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
  • Tony J Hua
    Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
  • Po-Yuan Tung
    Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
  • Lexi R Bounds
    Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
  • Feiqiao B Yu
    Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
  • Alexander Dobin
    Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
  • Noam Teyssier
    Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
  • Abhinav Adduri
    Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
  • Alden Woodrow
    Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
  • Brian S Plosky
    Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
  • Reshma Mehta
    Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
  • Benjamin Hsu
    Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
  • Jeremy Sullivan
    Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
  • Chiara Ricci-Tam
    Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
  • Nianzhen Li
    Deepcell Inc; 4025 Bohannon Dr., Menlo Park, CA, 94025, USA.
  • Julia Kazaks
    Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA.
  • Luke A Gilbert
    Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA; University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.
  • Silvana Konermann
    Department of Biochemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA. Electronic address: silvana@arcinstitute.org.
  • Patrick D Hsu
    Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA; Department of Bioengineering, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA; Innovative Genomics Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA. Electronic address: patrick@arcinstitute.org.
  • Hani Goodarzi
    Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States.
  • Dave P Burke
    Arc Institute, Palo Alto, CA, USA.

Keywords

External Resources

Popular Topics
Recent Journals