A Google DeepMind AI program that predicts protein structure. In 2018, AlphaFold 1 ranked first in Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction (CASP), a worldwide experiment every two years. In 2020, AlphaFold 2 was considered transformational and AlphaFold 3 showed at least a 50% improvement in 2024.
Taking from seconds to hours, AlphaFold predicts the 3D shape of a protein from its one-dimensional amino acid sequence. Proteins are the building blocks of life or more accurately the "molecular machines of life," and the shape of a protein determines what it can lock onto. Being able to quickly predict how proteins fold instead of spending years doing manual mapping means new medical cures can be created much faster.
The Nobel Prize
Along with David Baker from the University of Washington, DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis and John Jumper were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2024 for their work in this field. See
DeepMind.