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AlphaFold

Accelerating breakthroughs in biology with AI

AlphaFold Server

Powered by AlphaFold 3 — AlphaFold Server predicts how proteins will interact with other molecules throughout cells.

AlphaFold Protein Structure Database

View over 200 million protein structure predictions to support your research.

AlphaFold 3

Access the AlphaFold 3 model code and weights for academic use.

Explore the latest

AlphaFold has revealed millions of intricate 3D protein structures, and is helping scientists understand how life’s molecules interact.

What is AlphaFold?

Proteins underpin every biological process, in every living thing.

Made from long chains of amino acids, each has a unique complex 3D structure. But figuring out just one of these can take several years, and hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2020, AlphaFold solved this problem, with the ability to predict protein structures in minutes, to a remarkable degree of accuracy.

That’s helping researchers understand what individual proteins do and how they interact with other molecules. So valuable time and resources can be redirected into advancing research that could help solve society’s biggest medical and environmental challenges.

Timeline of a breakthrough

In November 2020, AlphaFold was recognised as a solution to the 50-year “protein-folding problem”.

Over 2 million researchers in over 190 countries are using the AlphaFold Protein Structure Database to inform their research.

Managing plastic pollution

91% of all plastic ever produced has never been recycled. AlphaFold could help us face up to the challenge of cleaning up our world.

Supporting global food supplies

40% of the world’s crops are lost to disease each year. AlphaFold could unlock insights that help keep food on tables.


AlphaFold’s impact

AlphaFold has already made a significant impact. We hope it will eventually help to transform our understanding of the biological world.

So far, AlphaFold has predicted over 200 million protein structures – nearly all catalogued proteins known to science. The AlphaFold Protein Structure Database makes this data freely available. So far, it has over three million users from over 190 countries. That means it has already potentially saved millions of dollars and hundreds of millions of years in research time.

Meanwhile, AlphaFold Server predicts how proteins will interact with a broad spectrum of biomolecules, accelerating new research.

Hundreds of millions

Research years saved by AlphaFold database structures.

Over 1 million

Users in low and middle income countries.

Over 30%

Of papers citing AlphaFold are related to the study of disease.


Accelerating breakthroughs

Scientists are using AlphaFold to accelerate research in nearly every field of biology.

Stopping malaria in its tracks

Science

Engineering more resilient crops for a warming climate

Science

Revealing a key protein behind heart disease

Science

Breeding healthier and stronger honeybees

Science

Targeting early-onset Parkinson’s with AI

Science

Solving the mystery of how an ancient bird went extinct

Science

AlphaFold transforms biology for millions around the world

Science

Fighting osteoporosis before it starts

Science

Tracing the evolution of proteins back to the origin of life

Science

Understanding the faulty proteins linked to cancer and autism

Science

Creating plastic-eating enzymes that could save us from pollution

Science

Advancing discovery of better drugs and medicine

Science

The race to cure a billion people from a deadly parasitic disease

Science

Accelerating the race against antibiotic resistance

Science

AlphaFold unlocks one of the greatest puzzles in biology

Science
AlphaFold Server

Powered by AlphaFold 3 — AlphaFold Server predicts how proteins will interact with other molecules throughout cells.


Try AlphaFold

A powerful suite of tools, helping the scientific community advance research.

AlphaFold Protein Structure Database

View over 200 million protein structure predictions to support your research.

AlphaFold Server

AlphaFold Server predicts how proteins will interact with other molecules throughout cells.


AlphaFold 3

Access the AlphaFold 3 model code and weights for academic use.