Google’s AI research company DeepMind has announced a new AI model for medical research that can predict the structure and interactions of all molecules in life. “AlphaFold 3” goes beyond just calculating proteins, explains the subsidiary of the Google holding company Alphabet. “AlphaFold 3” provides accurate predictions for interactions between proteins and other biomolecules in human cells.
The DeepMind subsidiary Isomorphic Labs from London, specialized in the use of artificial intelligence in drug research, also played a key role in the development of the AI model. DeepMind had previously developed ‘AlphaFold 2’, a program that can calculate the three-dimensional shape of proteins.
Potential in medicine
Researchers assume that biological processes in the body and diseases can be better understood if the shape and therefore the function of proteins are known. In 2020, DeepMind achieved a fundamental breakthrough in predicting protein structure. To date, millions of researchers around the world have used AlphaFold 2 to make discoveries in areas such as malaria vaccines, cancer treatments and enzyme design.
In an article published in the journal Nature, DeepMind presented the AI system ‘AlphaFold 3’ as a model that could predict the structure and interaction of all molecules of life with unprecedented accuracy. “In the interactions of proteins with other types of molecules, we see an improvement of at least 50 percent compared to existing prediction methods, and in some important categories of interactions we have doubled the prediction accuracy.”
Google DeepMind has also announced the ‘AlphaFold Server’. This free tool gives non-commercial researchers access to the capabilities of “AlphaFold 3” to generate models of biological structures. It allows biologists to create large and complex protein structures with just a few clicks on the screen. To leverage the potential of “AlphaFold 3” for drug development, Isomorphic Labs is already working with pharmaceutical companies.
Source: Krone
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