Photo by Terry Vlisidis on Unsplash (illustrative)
In November 2025, five years after the AI system AlphaFold 2 was unveiled, Google DeepMind reported that more than 3 million researchers in over 190 countries have used it. Its predicted structures are shared free of charge through a database run with EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute, which renewed the partnership in October 2025.
Key facts
The AlphaFold Protein Structure Database holds more than 200 million predicted structures, covering virtually all proteins researchers have identified.
Over 1 million of its users are in low- and middle-income countries.
AlphaFold has been cited in more than 35,000 scientific papers.
Its creators Demis Hassabis and John Jumper shared the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with protein designer David Baker.
Why it matters
Predicting a protein's shape from its sequence had defeated scientists since the 1970s. Free, instant predictions now let researchers everywhere, not just at rich institutions, study things like honeybee immunity, tougher crops and enzymes that break down plastic.
Worth noting
AlphaFold's structures are predictions, not measurements, and some still need checking in the lab. Usage and citation figures come from Google DeepMind's own reporting.