Biology breakthrough with profound implications

AI technology that enabled a computer to defeat chess grandmasters has now been employed to help biologists in an arguably more complex task: predicting how a protein folds – a problem that has eluded them for 50 years.

Proteins are the workhorses of the cell and regulate all the ongoing chemistry and communication in living organisms. Consisting of thousands of atoms, they have a complex three-dimensional structure that is essential for performing their function. If the protein has the wrong shape, it can’t do its job. And that can cause disease or even death.

But with the assistance of DeepMind, researchers believe they can now accurately predict a protein’s shape. Marc Zimmer, a professor of chemistry at Connecticut College, explains how this could have profound implications for creating new drugs and understanding diseases as disparate as Alzheimer’s and cystic fibrosis.

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