For the past 50 years, scientists have been baffled by one of the biggest riddles in science and health known as the "protein folding" problem, but now, through Google's DeepMind Artificial Intelligence, we might soon find the cure for various diseases, including cancer.
Google-owned DeepMind has created the AlphaFold system that has made a "once in a generation" discovery.
The 50-Year-Old 'Protein Folding' Problem
In a research paper that was published in June 2008 in the scientific journal "Annu Rev Biophys," authors Ken Dill, Banu Ozkan, Scott Shell, and Thomas Weikl wrote that the protein folding problem is "the question of how a protein's amino acid sequence dictates its three-dimensional atomic structure."
The problem first emerged in the 1960s, and since then, scientists have been challenged by the mystery of life's building blocks.
Nevertheless, the AI built by the Google-owned, London-based company DeepMind has finally cracked the riddle, enabling scientists to predict the 3D shape a protein will take based on its amino-acid sequence.
Why is the AlphaFold System's Discovery Important?
But, why is the AI, known as the AlphaFold system, such a huge deal?
"Being able to investigate the shape of proteins quickly and accurately has the potential to revolutionize life sciences," said Dr. Andriy Kryshtafovych, one of the panels of scientific judges.
According to The Sun, the "once in a generation" discovery will be incredibly helpful for researchers to create and develop new drugs that can fight deadly diseases and provide people with faster virus treatments for health conditions such as dementia and cancer.
Moreover, this can help in our current fight with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Scientists can also find enzymes and proteins that can help break down plastic and industrial waste or maybe capture carbon from our atmosphere to help fight climate change and environmental destruction.
Proteins are the building blocks of life, and these tiny molecules are made up of strings of amino acids that can fold into an infinite number of ways.
These proteins are both critical in the spread of diseases as well as how our body reacts to them.
More Work Needed to be Done
Scientists have discovered the chemical makeup of around 200 million types of protein, and as of the time being, the AlphaFold system is only capable of figuring the exact 3D structure of a "tiny fraction of the 200 million proteins" that we currently know of.
The DeepMind team showcased the AlphaFold system during the 14th Community Wide Experiment on the Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (CASP14).
This event happens every two years, wherein CASP judges score the teams that enter based on the computer models they create to figure out the structure of 100 proteins.
According to DeepMind, there is still more work needed to be done, but they will soon be submitting a research paper that contains the result of their current research for review before it can be published in a scientific journal.
With the spread of diseases such as COVID-19 and the increasing cases of dementia and cancer patients worldwide, the AlphaFold system might bring positive changes to the medical world.
But for now, the scientific world is still awaiting DeepMind's research on how it can be put into practice.
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Written by: Nhx Tingson
