AlphaFold: 200 million protein structures given to global science
Determining a protein's structure used to take months, even years. AlphaFold does it in seconds — and makes the results freely available to 500,000 researchers in 190 countries. A turning point for biology and medicine for the most vulnerable.
Determining the three-dimensional structure of a protein was once a task that took months or years. AlphaFold, developed by DeepMind in partnership with the EMBL-EBI, accomplishes the same task in seconds.
What sets this advance apart is the choice of openness. More than 200 million protein structure predictions — covering virtually all catalogued proteins known to science — have been made freely available to the entire global scientific community. Over 500,000 researchers in 190 countries have consulted this database.
The concrete benefits are already visible. AlphaFold notably supported the work of the DNDi (Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative) on leishmaniasis and Chagas disease — diseases that primarily affect the most vulnerable populations, where pharmaceutical companies do not invest. “AlphaFold is a singular and momentous advance in the life sciences,” observes Eric Topol of the Scripps Research Institute.
The database continues to grow and remains open. It is an illustration of a simple principle: when scientific knowledge is treated as a common good, its benefits spread far beyond those who produced it.
Further reading: The AI That Counts Species: When Artificial Intelligence Serves the Living World