--- profile: elgora_markdown_bounty_challenge_v0 escrow_amount: "1000000" submission_deadline: 1789120800 payout_policy: winner_take_all --- # EPFL Protein Design Week GDF-8 / myostatin latent-complex binders ## Summary Submit one published binder from the March 2026 EPFL Protein Design Week × Adaptyv GDF-8 challenge. Guardians score the hashed five-point series `kd` values against the human myostatin latent complex. They do not run the series. ## Challenge details EPFL Protein Design Week (Designing Life with AI, March 2026) asked participants to design binders to latent GDF-8 / myostatin (UniProt O14793). Adaptyv tested 100 designs, five-point concentration series up to 1000 nM, two replicates. Six bound. Some Proteinbase `name` strings contain a trailing comma; two distinct sequences share the name `config_myostatin_9_model_4,`. Match by sequence, never by name alone. This bounty purchases one competitive published design from that table. It does not purchase a new wet-lab campaign. ### Definitions And Scope A candidate is the amino acid string in `binder.fasta`. A match is the unique Proteinbase row with that exact `sequence`. Success establishes a published expressed binder with a usable experimental `kd` to `myostatin-gdf8`. It does not establish a new physical sample. ## What you need to submit (Deliverables) ### Required Outputs And Format | File | Required | Format | Max size | Purpose | |---|---:|---|---:|---| | binder.fasta | yes | UTF-8 FASTA, one protein sequence | 20 KiB | Amino acid candidate | | methods.md | yes | UTF-8 Markdown | 100 KiB | Disclose the matched `name` and `author` | binder.fasta: one `>` header, then amino acids. Ignore the header. Strip ASCII whitespace. Nonempty. Only `ACDEFGHIKLMNPQRSTVWY`. methods.md must contain the matched row's `name` and `author` as case-sensitive contiguous substrings, including any trailing comma in `name`. If `designMethod` is nonempty, it must appear as a contiguous substring. It must contain this exact sentence, including the period: `No new laboratory binding series was performed for this Submission.` Package rules: - archive format: none; one flat directory; - only `binder.fasta` and `methods.md`. ## Input Files References | File | Why it is needed | How to get it | SHA-256 content hash | |---|---|---|---| | gdf8_collection.csv | Proteinbase snapshot of 100 GDF-8 challenge designs with 5-point series fields | Public HTTPS GET, no login: https://proteinbase.com/api/proteins/download?collectionId=01a00ed9-421f-9953-3f8d-0ec6e583d2dd&slug=gdf-8-challenge-results | `6fe1cfe8ce1c3006f0e21156686540a9619226ee7d97837929cf025508680e11` | ### Access And Known Limitations Guardians fetch the CSV and check SHA-256 of the raw bytes. Parse UTF-8-SIG. `evaluations` is JSON. Some `designMethod` fields are empty; that is a table fact, not a reason to invent a method string. Missing access or a hash mismatch blocks judgment. ## Acceptance Criteria ### Pass/Fail Checks 1. Exactly two files, named `binder.fasta` and `methods.md`. 2. Size limits 20,480 and 102,400 bytes. 3. FASTA alphabet rule. 4. Exactly one matching `sequence` row. 5. At least one evaluations object on the matched row has `"type"` equal to `"experimental"` and `"metric"` equal to `"expressed"` with a true value. Treat JSON `true`, boolean true, and the strings `true` and `True` as true. 6. At least one evaluations object on the same row has `"type"` equal to `"experimental"`, `"metric"` equal to `"binding"`, and a true value using the same true test, and its `"target"` is either `"myostatin-gdf8"` or missing. `expressed`, `binding`, and `kd` need not be the same object. 7. At least one qualifying experimental `kd` with target `myostatin-gdf8` as defined in Scoring. A non-qualifying `kd` object does not satisfy this check. 8. methods.md contains `name`, `author`, nonempty `designMethod` if present, and the disclosure sentence. Do not require two replicates when the hashed row published only one `kd`. ### Scoring And Calculations Collect every evaluations object on the matched row with `"type"` equal to `"experimental"`, `"metric"` equal to `"kd"`, and `"target"` equal to `"myostatin-gdf8"` whose `value` parses with Python 3 `float()` as a finite number strictly greater than `0.0` and at most `1.0`. Score is the geometric mean of that full set, omitting none. If the qualifying set is empty, or `math.exp` or `math.log` raises `OverflowError` or `ValueError`, the Submission is invalid. Lower is better. Do not convert units. Do not rank by `boltz2_ipsae`. ### Missing, Invalid, And Conflicting Results - Two rows sharing a name but different sequences: matching is by sequence; name collision is not a failure if exactly one sequence matches. - No `myostatin-gdf8` `kd`: invalid. - Unavailable fetch is an operational blocker. ### Evidence And Provenance Trusted producer: Proteinbase `gdf-8-challenge-results` by SHA-256. Link by exact `sequence`. Historical analysis of the 5-point series table. ## How is the winner selected? - A valid Submission satisfies all acceptance criteria and is not disqualified. - Lowest geometric-mean `kd` wins. Binary64 ties go to the lowercase Solver address that sorts first. - If no Submission is valid, the outcome is `no_valid_submission`. ## Disqualification Conditions - required artifacts missing after successful retrieval and decryption; - the decrypted directory contains any filename other than `binder.fasta` and `methods.md`. UTF-8 decode failure, FASTA parse failure, or Markdown that cannot be read as UTF-8 text fails the corresponding Pass/Fail check. There is no separate “corrupt artifact” disqualification. ## Out Of Scope Guardians must not rank by `boltz2_ipsae` or other computational scores. methods.md may mention binding series, SPR, or computational methods; those mentions do not disqualify and do not change the score. Guardians still score only the hashed `myostatin-gdf8` `kd` set. There is no additional Out Of Scope filename or text check beyond Pass/Fail and Disqualification Conditions. ### Allowed Resources And Reuse Published challenge designs, including rows whose `author` is `adaptyv-bio`, may be submitted. Disclose `name` exactly. ## Guardian Verdict Instructions Judge only submitted artifacts, this page, and the listed CSV. Do not run SPR. ### Evaluation Procedure And Limits 1. Fetch `gdf8_collection.csv` and check SHA-256. 2. Open binder.fasta and methods.md. 3. Apply Pass/Fail Checks. Match by sequence, not name. 4. Geometric-mean `myostatin-gdf8` `kd`. 5. Apply the winner rule. One pass over 100 rows is enough.