AlphaFold has revealed millions of intricate 3D protein structures, and is helping scientists understand how life’s molecules interact.
Proteins – the building blocks of life
Proteins underpin every biological process, in every living thing.
Made from long chains of amino acids, each has a unique complex 3D structure. But figuring out just one of these can take several years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2020, AlphaFold solved this problem, with the ability to predict protein structures in minutes, to a remarkable degree of accuracy.
That’s helping researchers understand what individual proteins do and how they interact with other molecules. So valuable time and resources can be redirected into advancing research that could help solve society’s biggest medical and environmental challenges.
What took us months and years to do, AlphaFold was able to do in a weekend.
Professor John McGeehan
Former Director for the Centre for Enzyme Innovation (CEI)
AlphaFold’s impact
So far, AlphaFold has predicted over 200 million protein structures – nearly all catalogued proteins known to science. The AlphaFold Protein Structure Database makes this data freely available. So far, it has over two million users in 190 countries. That means it has already potentially saved millions of dollars and hundreds of millions of years in research time.
Meanwhile, AlphaFold Server predicts how proteins will interact with a broad spectrum of biomolecules, accelerating new research.
AlphaFold has already made a significant impact. We hope it will eventually help to transform our understanding of the biological world.
Accelerating breakthroughs
Researchers are using AlphaFold in nearly every field of biology. Explore some of their stories.
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Case study
Accelerating the fight against malaria
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Case study
Paving the way for potential Parkinson’s treatments
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Case study
Racing against drug-resistant bacteria
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Case study
Breaking down plastic pollution
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Case study
Designing more effective drugs
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Case study
Increasing honeybees’ chances of survival
AlphaFold tools
AlphaFold Database and Server are freely available to the scientific community.
Learn more
What's new
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Research
AlphaFold 3 predicts the structure and interactions of all of life’s molecules
Introducing a new AI model developed by Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs.
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Research
A glimpse of the next generation of AlphaFold
Progress update: Our latest AlphaFold model shows significantly improved accuracy and expands coverage beyond proteins to other biological molecules, including ligands.
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Impact
Stopping malaria in its tracks
Developing a vaccine that could save hundreds of thousands of lives
