Online tutorial
Navigating the AlphaFold database
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Time to complete:
1 hour
This course includes:
Written by:
Last reviewed:
October 2025
All materials are free cultural works licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license, except where further licensing details are provided.
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This course provides a guide to using the AlphaFold Protein Structure database (AFDB), a resource for accessing predicted 3D structures. Developed in a collaboration between Google DeepMind and EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI).
Who is this course for?
This course is suitable for anyone interested in learning about the AlphaFold Database, however an undergraduate knowledge of structural biology would be an advantage. A basic knowledge of programming would also be an advantage to make full use of the additional materials.
What will I achieve?
By the end of the course you will be able to:
- Describe the significance and scope of the AlphaFold Database.
- Navigate the database website and perform effective searches for proteins of interest.
- Interpret the information presented on a protein structure page, including the 3D model and quality metrics.
- Retrieve and download the structure coordinate files for further analysis.
DOI:
TOL.AFdatabase-t.2025.00001.1
Course contents
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