[DrScientist]

It is/was a brilliant piece of work ( Nobel prize level ) - however I think the impact is over-hyped - as somebody who has experimentally solved a protein structure - I can tell you knowing the structure doesn't necessarily help you understand the biology - not every structure is as functionally obvious as the structure of DNA for example.

In terms of drug discovery - even assuming the models are as good as experimental structures, you only get the same benefit as experimental structures - which have helped small molecule drug discovery - but I would argue not transformed it. All the existing challenges with structure based drug design remain.

BTW while Alphafold 2 was a big step forward from Alphafold(1) - it wasn't a complete shock as Alphafold 1 had already topped the charts in a previous competition a couple of years earlier.

[mensetmanusman]

“ knowing the structure doesn't necessarily help you understand the biology ”

I think most everyone recognizes this, but also believes it is probably necessary to know the structure to understand the biology in the future. Ie a necessary yet insufficient advancement that is Nobel worthy.

[DrScientist]

> but also believes it is probably necessary to know the structure to understand the biology in the future

I don't agree. Biology is really about systems - complex networks of biological interactions. The physically structure of it's components aren't required to understand those interactions at the system level if you can simply measure the interaction directly ( rather than trying to predict it poorly from a structure ).