AlphaFold Workshop Uganda 2025: Unlocking Protein Structure Prediction.

From 16th June to 20th June 2025, ACE-Uganda at the Infectious Diseases Institute (IDI), Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, hosted the AlphaFold Workshop Uganda 2025 under the theme "Unlocking Protein Structure Prediction," with support from Google DeepMind. The workshop brought together East African researchers and students involved in protein-related research, structural biology, and bioinformatics who were seeking to integrate AlphaFold into their work. The workshop covered fundamental introductions to AlphaFold, an AI tool for protein structure prediction and its core applications. Each day was structured so that participants were introduced to theory and concepts in the morning, and put what they learned into practice during afternoon sessions. During these initial sessions, participants explored structural biology concepts, learned how to navigate the AlphaFold protein structure database with ease, and gained practical experience adding ligands, ions, and templates, interpreting confidence scores, and predicting complex protein structures and interactions. The last 2 days of the workshop were fully dedicated to intensive practical sessions. Participants were divided into 5 groups of 4 to 5 members and tasked with reproducing the analysis sections of published journal papers. Working collaboratively, the groups utilized different versions of AlphaFold alongside visualization tools to successfully replicate the published workflows. Participants reported a significantly improved understanding of AlphaFold, including its architecture, versions, and practical applications, and expressed a stronger appreciation for the field of structural biology. They highlighted the engaging nature of the afternoon practicals as key to reinforcing their understanding, enhancing their experience and building confidence in using AlphaFold for their own research in fields of malaria drug resistance, AMR, cancer research, zoonotic diseases, drug design, among others.