Google’s AI subsidiary, DeepMind, has taken another great leap forward in science, business, and open sourcing by releasing both their AlphaFold algorithm source code and their protein structure database.
AlphaFold is a program created by DeepMind in 2016 to predict protein structures. Four years after its launch, AlphaFold’s predictions matched those of lab techniques. The program has consistently outperformed all its peers – and, over time, itself. It works at rapid speed, and with need of far less resources than any human in a lab.
Both AlphaFold’s v2.0 algorithm and its library of 350,000 protein sequences are now available online for free. DeepMind’s CEO, Demis Hassabis, has expressed his hopes that the pharmaceutical industry will make use of this valuable new resource.
Newsletters
Receive the latest analytical science news, personalities, education, and career development – weekly to your inbox.
