The AI ​​lab’s DeepMind AlphaFold algorithm predicted the structures of more than 200 million proteins. These are almost all compounds known to science found in plants, bacteria, and animals.

According to the developers, thanks to the open source AlphaFold code, scientists from all over the world can use it in their research. By July 2021, the algorithm was decrypting 350,000 3D structures. DeepMind said thousands of scientists have used the system since then.

“Over 500,000 researchers and biologists have used the database to view more than 2 million structures. These predictive structures have helped scientists make brilliant new discoveries,” said Demis Hassabis, DeepMind Founder and CEO.

For example, in April 2022, Yale scientists used the AlphaFold database to develop a new and highly effective malaria vaccine. In July 2021, researchers at the University of Portsmouth turned to the system to create enzymes to combat single-use plastic pollution.

“This got us one year ahead, not two,” said John McGeehan, director of the Portsmouth Center for Enzyme Innovation.

DeepMind also reports that last year scientists published more than 1,000 papers using AlphaFold. In the future, the researchers plan to use the algorithm to create drugs for little-studied but common tropical diseases such as leishmaniasis.

Recall that in July 2021, DeepMind introduced the AlphaFold algorithm, which models 20,000 human protein structures. The developers have opened access to the program for researchers from all over the world.

In November, Alphabet founded Isomorphic Laboratories, a company that uses artificial intelligence to find new types of drugs.

In July 2022, MIT researchers developed the EquiBind deep learning model, which is 1,200 times faster than its counterparts to attach molecules to proteins to create drugs.