AlphaFold: Using AI for scientific discovery

Today were excited to share DeepMinds first significant milestone in demonstrating how artificial intelligence research can drive and accelerate new scientific discoveries. With a strongly interdisciplinary approach to our work, DeepMind has brought together experts from the fields of structural biology, physics, and machine learning to apply cutting-edge techniques to predict the 3D structure of a protein based solely on its genetic sequence.Our system, AlphaFold, which we have been working on for the past two years, builds on years of prior research in using vast genomic data to predict protein structure. The 3D models of proteins that AlphaFold generates are far more accurate than any that have come beforemaking significant progress on one of the core challenges in biology.What is the protein folding problem?Proteins are large, complex molecules essential in sustaining life. Nearly every function our body performscontracting muscles, sensing light, or turning food into energycan be traced back to one or more proteins and how they move and change. The recipes for those proteinscalled genesare encoded in our DNA.What any given protein can do depends on its unique 3D structure. For example, antibody proteins that make up our immune systems are Y-shaped, and are akin to unique hooks.