{"schemaVersion":"1.0","generatedFrom":"https://brightaifuture.com/discoveries/esmfold-protein-structures","record":{"id":"esmfold-protein-structures","headline":"Predicting a protein’s shape from its sequence","canonicalUrl":"https://brightaifuture.com/discoveries/esmfold-protein-structures","datePublished":"2026-09-19","dateModified":null,"sourcePublicationDate":"2023-03-16","author":null,"publisher":{"name":"Bright AI Future","url":"https://brightaifuture.com/"},"topics":["open-models"],"summary":"ESMFold applies a protein language model to infer three-dimensional structure directly from an amino-acid sequence, with checkpoints and bulk prediction tools available to researchers.","evidenceState":"Demonstrated","keyFacts":[{"label":"AI’s role","value":"Learned sequence representations are converted into predicted atomic structure without requiring a multiple-sequence alignment for every target."},{"label":"Documented result","value":"The Science study used the approach to help create the ESM Metagenomic Atlas, a public collection of predicted structures for hundreds of millions of metagenomic proteins."},{"label":"Important limitation","value":"Predicted structures vary in confidence and require scientific follow-up. The MIT repository and CC-BY-4.0 Atlas do not amount to a complete released training corpus and recipe."}],"limitations":["Predicted structures vary in confidence and require scientific follow-up. The MIT repository and CC-BY-4.0 Atlas do not amount to a complete released training corpus and recipe.","The peer-reviewed paper and public artifacts establish the research result; neither establishes experimental validity for every predicted protein."],"evidenceLinks":[{"title":"Evolutionary-scale prediction of atomic-level protein structure with a language model","url":"https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade2574","type":"paper"},{"title":"Evolutionary Scale Modeling","url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/esm","type":"repository"},{"title":"Evolutionary-scale prediction of atomic-level protein structure with a language model","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36927031/","type":"government"}],"evidencePackUrl":"https://brightaifuture.com/evidence-pack/esmfold-protein-structures","embedUrl":"https://brightaifuture.com/embed/story/esmfold-protein-structures","attribution":{"credit":"Bright AI Future","requirements":["Link to the canonical Bright record.","Keep material limitations with the claim they qualify.","Link to the original evidence when repeating a substantive claim.","Do not describe a source check or organization-reported result as independent verification."],"sourceRights":"Linked source material, quotations, trademarks and media remain subject to their owners’ terms. No reuse right is granted for third-party media."}},"claim":{"humanProblem":"Experimental structure determination cannot keep pace with the vast number of protein sequences found in nature.","priorConstraint":"Structure prediction and experimental measurement both demanded substantial time and compute per protein.","aiRole":"Learned sequence representations are converted into predicted atomic structure without requiring a multiple-sequence alignment for every target.","documentedResult":"The Science study used the approach to help create the ESM Metagenomic Atlas, a public collection of predicted structures for hundreds of millions of metagenomic proteins.","whyItMayMatter":"Portable predictions can help researchers choose where to investigate, but a model output is evidence to test rather than a measured structure.","unresolvedQuestions":[]},"evidenceAssessment":{"state":"Demonstrated","claimConfidence":"unassessed","reviewState":"source-checked","reviewMethod":"ai-assisted","reviewNote":"AI-assisted comparison with the cited sources. Source-checked means the record was checked against those sources; it does not claim independent reproduction, expert review, or validation of the publisher’s results.","lastSourceReview":"2026-09-19","independentVerification":"not-established-by-this-source-review"},"sources":[{"id":"esmfold-science-2023","title":"Evolutionary-scale prediction of atomic-level protein structure with a language model","url":"https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade2574","type":"paper"},{"id":"esm-repository","title":"Evolutionary Scale Modeling","url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/esm","type":"repository"},{"id":"esmfold-pubmed-record","title":"Evolutionary-scale prediction of atomic-level protein structure with a language model","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36927031/","type":"government"}],"revisions":[{"id":"revision:open-models-added:esmfold-protein-structures","recordedAt":"2026-09-19","summary":"Bright added this source-checked open-model application record. The cited source publication date is 2023-03-16; 2026-09-19 is when Bright added this record.","sourceIds":["esmfold-science-2023","esm-repository","esmfold-pubmed-record"]}],"corrections":[]}