本學程學生組成的團隊，於 2025 年 3 月在矽谷 Y Combinator（YC）總部參加 Bio×AI Hackathon，在 AI Scientist Track 中奪得冠軍，並以前八強之姿登台進行全場決賽 Pitching。
本次競賽由 YC 校友公司 Tamarind Bio（YC W24）與 BioRender（YC W18）主辦，Y Combinator、Anthropic、OpenAI 及 Modal 聯合贊助，於舊金山 YC 總部舉行。競賽從全球 CS 與生物領域的研究員、博士生及大學生中，共錄取 268 名參賽者，競爭者來自 UC Berkeley、Stanford 等頂尖學府，以及已有實際創業經歷的 AI 與 TechBio 業界團隊。
該團隊開發的工具以 Agentic AI 為核心，針對藥物探索中長期懸而未決的「不可成藥靶點問題」提出自動化解決方案，將原本耗時數週的早期探索研究大幅壓縮，並整合 Tamarind API 建構完整的研究流程。評審對其技術執行力與清晰的問題定義給予肯定，最終在多組業界與學術團隊中脫穎而出。
值得一提的是，此次競賽從公布至成行不超過兩週。團隊在確認錄取後隨即訂票赴美，以大一身份與來自世界各地的頂尖研究者同場競技，完成了一次對自身能力與方向的直接驗證。
A team from the Arete Honors Program at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) won first place in the AI Scientist Track at the Bio×AI Hackathon held at Y Combinator (YC) headquarters in San Francisco in March 2025, subsequently advancing to the top 8 finals to present on the main stage.
The event was organized by YC alumni companies Tamarind Bio (YC W24) and BioRender (YC W18), with sponsorship from Y Combinator, Anthropic, OpenAI, and Modal. Held at YC HQ Ycombinator, the hackathon drew 268 selected participants from across the globe, representing researchers, PhD candidates, and undergraduates from leading institutions including UC Berkeley and Stanford, as well as industry teams with established AI and TechBio ventures.
The team developed an agentic AI-powered tool targeting one of the pharmaceutical field’s most persistent challenges: the undruggable target problem. Their solution automates the early-stage drug discovery workflow, significantly compressing a process that traditionally takes weeks, integrating the Tamarind API to support an end-to-end research pipeline. Judges recognized the team’s technical execution and the clarity of their problem framing, distinguishing them from a competitive field of academic and industry entrants.
Notably, the entire arc from announcement to departure took less than two weeks. Upon receiving their acceptance, the team booked flights immediately and competed as first-year undergraduates alongside some of the most advanced researchers in the field — a direct and unambiguous measure of where they stand.