Artificial intelligence has found out the shape of every virtual protein known to science.

HIGHLIGHTS
AI found the shape of every virtual protein known to science
Proteins are the building blocks of life and shape is linked with their function
AlphaFold Protein Structure Database is freely available to scientific community

As per the experts the breakthrough would help to tackle major global challenges like developing malaria vaccines and fighting plastic pollution. 

Proteins would be considered as the building blocks of life, and their shape would be closely linked to their function. They are being able to predict a protein’s structure which provides scientists a better understanding of what it works and the way it works.

Therefore, the research was conducted by DeepMind and EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), that had used the AlphaFold AI system to predict a protein’s 3D structure.

The AlphaFold Protein Structure Database would be freely available to the scientific community. Well, it has been expanded from nearly one million protein structures to over two hundred million structures, which has covered nearly each organism on Earth that has had its genome sequenced.

The expansion would include predicted shapes for the widest possible range of species, which includes plants, bacteria, animals, and other organisms. It has been opening up new avenues of research across the life sciences.

Demis Hassabis, founder and CEO of DeepMind have mentioned that 'we would have been stunned by the rate at which AlphaFold has already become a vital tool for many thousands of scientists in labs and universities across the globe.'

Also Read: Rain Neuromorphic' artificial intelligence chips are analogue, gets $25 million funding