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Artificial Intelligence Just Solved 50 Years of Scientific Struggle
AlphaFold is one of the greatest inventions of our time
For decades, scientists have struggled with one of biology’s greatest challenges: determining the 3D structure of a protein from an amino acid sequence.
Commonly labeled “the building blocks of life,” proteins are long chains of amino acids that fold by forming arcs, twists, and folds until they assume a final shape.
That 3D shape determines how the protein works.
But the logic by which this process occurs has been a great unknown for scientists over the past 50 years.
Understanding this domain of biology for the scientific community is vital.
Such information can be deployed for several purposes, from controlling or modifying protein functions to aiding drug discovery and designing artificial proteins.
A better understanding of bacterial proteins can help scientists, for example, understand how to counter antibiotic resistance.
Intending to access this knowledge, the researchers at the artificial intelligence lab DeepMind began working on the AlphaFold program in the middle of the last decade.
