Google DeepMind Achieves Protein Folding Prediction at Atomic Scale

Ars Technica by John Timmer February 11, 2026 · 18:59 8 hours ago
Summary

New AlphaFold variant predicts protein structures at atomic resolution, opening doors for drug discovery.

Google DeepMind has pushed the boundaries of computational biology with a new iteration of AlphaFold that achieves atomic-scale accuracy in protein structure prediction. The advance could dramatically accelerate drug discovery timelines.

Researchers demonstrated the system's ability to predict not just the overall fold of proteins, but the precise positions of individual atoms within the structure, including water molecules that play crucial roles in protein function.

The pharmaceutical industry has responded enthusiastically, with several major drug companies announcing plans to integrate the technology into their discovery pipelines.

Analysis

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