How can artificial intelligence help researchers find similarities among hundreds of millions of protein structures?
Terézia Slanináková presented AlphaFind at 120 seconds: Meet the Brnoregion Microscopy, an event bringing together experts from academia, research institutions and technology companies working in the field of electron microscopy.
Brno is one of the world's leading centres of electron microscopy, thanks in part to close collaboration between researchers, technology companies and research institutions. The Brnoregion Microscopy platform supports this community by encouraging networking and the exchange of ideas, including through events such as 120 seconds: Meet the Brnoregion Microscopy, held on 15 October 2026 at CEITEC BUT in Brno. The concept is simple: participants have just two minutes to present their research, technology or innovation, opening the door to new connections and potential collaborations.
AlphaFind, developed by the CERIT-SC team around Terézia Slanináková at Masaryk University, combines artificial intelligence, bioinformatics and high-performance computing infrastructure. Put simply, it works like "Google for proteins" – searching hundreds of millions of protein structures from the AlphaFold DB database in seconds to identify structural similarities. This helps researchers better understand biological structures and their relationships, with potential applications in disease research and drug development. In electron microscopy, AlphaFind is particularly valuable for placing experimentally determined structures into the broader context of AI-predicted protein structures.
The presentation of CERIT-SC and AlphaFind brought a fresh perspective on the potential of artificial intelligence in research to Brno's microscopy community, creating opportunities to exchange experiences and explore new connections across scientific disciplines.
Jiří Filipovič from Masaryk University’s Institute of Computer Science has now succeeded as the main proposer of a new COST Action that will connect European experts in autotuning. In this interview, he explains why existing tools need to be better aligned, what the network can offer early-career researchers, and how computer game development first led him into science.
Jiří Filipovič will lead the new COST Action AutoPEAC, bringing together European experts in software autotuning, performance optimization, and energy efficiency.
