2021Peer-reviewedWell documented
AlphaFold Solves Protein Folding
On the timeline · around 2021 ·
What happened
DeepMind's AlphaFold predicted the three-dimensional structures of proteins from their amino-acid sequences with accuracy rivalling laboratory experiments — cracking a 50-year-old grand challenge in biology.
Why it matters
AlphaFold showed AI could make genuine scientific breakthroughs, and its open database of predicted structures has transformed biology and drug discovery.