Why proteins fold and how GPUs help us fold
a day ago
- #AI-in-biology
- #NVIDIA-GPUs
- #protein-folding
- Proteins are complex molecules with specific shapes that determine their function, and misfolding can lead to diseases like Alzheimer's and sickle cell anemia.
- Scientists spent 50 years trying to predict protein folding, but AI (AlphaFold) solved it in 2020 with high accuracy.
- Proteins are made of 20 standard amino acids, each with unique properties, arranged in sequences that fold into functional 3D structures.
- Protein folding is driven by thermodynamics, including hydrophobic effects, hydrogen bonds, electrostatic interactions, and disulfide bonds.
- The Levinthal Paradox highlights that protein folding should be impossible due to the vast search space, but proteins fold efficiently via guided pathways.
- AlphaFold uses deep learning to predict protein structures from sequences, revolutionizing biology and drug discovery.
- NVIDIA's GPUs, originally for gaming, now power AI-driven protein prediction and design, accelerating drug discovery and synthetic biology.