César Ramírez: “Protein design is one of the most important revolutions of this new era”

César Ramírez, a researcher at the UC Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering, explained how the artificial intelligence tool AlphaFold is transforming scientific research and driving the development of solutions for health, sustainability, and biotechnology in Chile.
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What just two decades ago could have taken years of work for a research laboratory can now be solved in a matter of seconds thanks to AlphaFold, the artificial intelligence tool developed by Google DeepMind that revolutionized the prediction of three-dimensional protein structures and whose creators were awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Currently used by more than two million researchers in nearly 190 countries, AlphaFold has become a key technology for accelerating scientific progress in fields such as biomedicine, drug discovery, biotechnology, and sustainability.

Among those working with this tool is César Ramírez, a researcher at the Institute of Biological and Medical Engineering (IIBM) at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and a 2025 TED Fellow, who highlights the profound change it has brought about in scientific research.

“AlphaFold is so popular that there are very few biochemistry or structural biology labs dedicated to the study of proteins that aren’t using it,” Ramírez notes.

The researcher explains that this technology not only allows us to determine the structure of proteins with great precision, but also opens up new possibilities for designing them using artificial intelligence, accelerating processes that previously required years of experimental work.

At the IIBM, the team led by Ramírez uses AlphaFold to tackle one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time: plastic pollution. Through protein modeling and design, they aim to discover and optimize enzymes capable of degrading plastics more efficiently, contributing to the development of sustainable biotechnological solutions.

“AlphaFold plays a key role in the discovery of new enzymes that break down plastics, as well as in the design of proteins using artificial intelligence,” he explains.

The scholar also highlights the enormous potential these tools offer for tackling diseases that particularly affect Chile and Latin America.

“”We can design completely novel proteins to treat endemic pathogens that disproportionately affect our region, such as the Hanta virus or Chagas disease, where the lack of commercial incentives has slowed the development of rapid diagnostics and low-cost biotechnological therapies,” he says.

Ramírez also emphasizes that the impact of AlphaFold extends far beyond basic research. Its application is already enabling the development of new solutions for industry and healthcare, including diagnostics for foodborne pathogens, more stable and cost-effective versions of insulin for pharmaceutical use, and antibodies with therapeutic potential for cardiovascular and immunological diseases.

The significance of AlphaFold has also been highlighted by researchers at various Chilean universities. Among them are Víctor Castro of the University of Chile, who uses the tool to study protein evolution and antibiotic resistance; Ingrid Araya and Danilo González of Andrés Bello University, who are developing nanoantibodies for diagnostic purposes; Juan Ismael Román, from the University of Concepción, who applies it to the study of plant proteins related to food security; and Wendy González, Ariela Vergara, and Pablo Galaz, from the University of Talca, who highlight its impact on research, innovation, and the training of new generations of scientists.

For Ramírez, the emergence of artificial intelligence marks a turning point for science.

“The field of protein design is one of the most important revolutions of our time.”

Its integration into research and student training is redefining the way new knowledge is generated, positioning tools such as AlphaFold as key players in the next generation of advances in biotechnology, medicine, and biomedical engineering.