• Perspectivist@feddit.uk
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    2 days ago

    DeepMind’s AlphaFold solved the decades-old protein folding problem, and its results are already being used in drug and vaccine development.

      • Perspectivist@feddit.uk
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        2 days ago

        CRISPR is the tool that lets us precisely edit genes in DNA, which contain the instructions for making proteins. AlphaFold is the AI tool that helped us understand what those edits actually do. It’s the 3D shape of the protein that determines its function - without understanding protein folding, gene editing would be like changing code in a language you don’t fully understand and just hoping it works.