Public roadmap
Directional, not contractual. Timing shifts with contributor capacity and scientific reviewer availability.
For the current state of each indicator, see Project status.
Pick a route
New learnerStart with cancer basics, vocabulary, limits, and safety boundaries.Developer / data scientistRun a small public-data example, then move into APIs, lab methods, omics, and QC.Researcher / clinicianUse the clinical, trial, regulatory, and modality pages to review claims and add nuance.Project contributorFind what is missing, improve one page or example, and keep claims sourced.
Learning paths
| Goal | Suggested path |
|---|---|
| Understand cancer from zero | What is cancer → Hallmarks → Tumor microenvironment → Clinical trials 101 |
| Understand how data is produced | Lab methods 101 → Sample prep & QC → Sequencing → Omics 101 |
| Build bioinformatics intuition | Getting started → Bioinformatics → From FASTQ to variants → Tools |
| Read therapy claims safely | Emerging therapies → Therapeutic modalities → Experimental → Limits |
| Contribute to the project | Project status → GitHub issues → a page with missing references → a small PR |
Build phases
Phase 01FoundationsReadable oncology fundamentals for builders.Phase 02Executable examplesSmall notebooks and scripts against public portals.Phase 03Pipeline recipesReproducible preprocessing and QC patterns.Phase 04Trusted reviewersPractising scientists and clinicians reviewing claims.Phase 05Collaborative projectsScoped open-source challenges with mentorship.
Phase detail and signaling
| Phase | Intent | Signal | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 - Foundations readable by builders | Harden oncology fundamentals, lab methods, omics, therapeutic modalities, and translational safeguards. | working | Most core pages now exist; review passes are adding depth, sources, and cleaner diagrams. |
| 02 - Executable notebooks against public portals | Curate narrowly scoped demos wired to licenses, provenance, and ethics notes. | starting | One validated GDC quickstart in Getting started; more examples should be small and reproducible. |
| 03 - Pipeline recipes | Document reproducible preprocessing and QC patterns with explicit versioning. | not yet | Targets: FASTQ to variants, expression QC, single-cell/spatial starter, image-analysis starter. |
| 04 - Trusted reviewers | Bring practising scientists and clinicians into sensitive claims before wide promotion. | forming | Individual collaborations; no editorial board yet. |
| 05 - Collaborative projects | Sponsor scoped open-source challenges once governance and mentorship exist. | not yet | Will only open after Phase 04 maturity. |
Signals: working, starting/forming, not yet, out of current scope.
Contribution ladder
| Level | Good contribution | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | fix broken links, translate headings, clean citation formatting | adding unsourced medical claims |
| Builder | add a reproducible data example or QC checklist | hiding versions, credentials, or provenance |
| Domain reviewer | mark overclaims, missing caveats, and outdated evidence | rewriting style without checking science |
| Maintainer | connect pages, enforce structure, run build checks | expanding scope faster than review capacity |
What changes when
We update this page when the sequencing changes. Granular work lives in GitHub issues, pull requests, and project-status notes.
- Repository: github.com/hack-cancer/Hack-Cancer
- Open issues are the smallest unit of public commitment.
- Open PRs are the smallest unit of in-flight work.
- Releases bundle docs and example versions when meaningful.
For the practical "where do I help" view, see Project status.
What this roadmap does not promise
- A specific delivery date for any phase.
- A guarantee that any single page will reach a particular depth by a fixed time.
- New languages beyond English and PT-BR.
- Funded grants, partnerships, or product launches under this name.
- Clinical advice, trial recommendations, or patient-specific interpretation.
This is consistent with the framing in Mission and Limits & responsibility.