Why the AlphaFold Futures Report Launches the Open Biodesign Archive

TL;DR (30-Second Answer)

• First official release: AlphaFold Futures Workshop Report now published with a DOI—free to cite, remix, and teach from.

• Open Biodesign Archive: A new Zenodo community where anyone can publish biodesign toolkits, datasets, or speculative research—each with its own DOI.

• Featured project: Thermocelium—a living mycelium thermostat that “grows” rather than measures heat.

• Startup insights: Protein Futures briefings and Vault now open for founders, CTOs, and investors building with AI + protein design.

Key Takeaways

1. Open-access first. Every Biodesign Academy release will be published under an open license with an immutable DOI.

2. Designed for reuse. Supplementary slides, PyMOL workflows, and cheatsheets are version-controlled for easy remixing.

3. Archive = infrastructure. The new Zenodo community provides a single, citable home for future biodesign resources.

4. Education → industry bridge. Protein Futures translates academic advances into startup roadmaps and platform patterns.

What’s Inside the AlphaFold Futures Report?

• Workshop blueprint. Session formats, timing, and facilitation tips for three days of speculative protein design.

• Tool stack. Practical notes on AlphaFold 3 via Neurosnap, ESMFold for function prediction, and PyMOL validation steps.

• Participant insights. How designers, artists, and scientists co-created mutation scenarios and “failed forward.”

• Supplementary pack. Slides, code snippets, and mutation cheatsheets—ready for classroom or lab adoption.

Citation: Kim, R. (2025) AlphaFold Futures Workshop Report. DOI 10.5281/zenodo.16755847

How to Access, Cite & Remix the Report

1. Download: Search Zenodo for the DOI above to grab the PDF and supplementary ZIP.

2. Cite: Use the BibTeX or APA snippet provided by Zenodo—no paywalls, no permissions needed.

3. Fork: Clone the companion Git repository to adapt lesson plans or extend the PyMOL notebook.

4. Share: Re-upload your derivative under the same Zenodo community to assign a fresh DOI.

Spotlight Project: Thermocelium—A Living Thermostat

• Designer: Jasper Scheffer (Eindhoven)

• Concept: Reishi mycelium that thickens in warm rooms and thins when cool, creating a slow-growing “temperature trace.”

• Why it matters: Reframes “smart home” devices from digital sensors to responsive biological matter—provoking low-energy, more-than-human design.

Build With Us: The Protein Futures Vault

Access: Reply “Protein Futures” to the newsletter or request an invite on the Biodesign Academy site.

Coming Soon: Free Walkthrough—Publish Your Own Biodesign Work

A video tutorial covering:

1. Zenodo sign-up and community creation

2. Uploading files + generating a DOI

3. Optimizing metadata for Google Scholar indexing

4. Creative Commons licensing tips

Stay tuned—the link will drop in next week’s issue.

FAQs

Q1. Can I publish student projects in the Open Biodesign Archive?
Yes. As long as the material is openly licensed, the archive team will approve it and assign a DOI within 24 hours.

Q2. What licenses are allowed?
Creative Commons family (CC-BY, CC-BY-SA, CC-0) is preferred; GPL or MIT for code.

Q3. I’m not a scientist—can I still join Protein Futures?
Absolutely. The briefings are written for founders, investors, and designers who need a fast on-ramp to the science.

Q4. Do I need special software to view the supplementary PyMOL files?
No. The archive includes a read-only HTML viewer, plus instructions for loading the session into free PyMOL.

Further Reading & Next Steps

• Explore additional resources in the Open Biodesign Archive on Zenodo.

• Read the full Thermocelium case study on the Biodesign Academy blog.

• Subscribe to the Protein Futures newsletter for weekly analysis on AI + protein startups.

Ready to remix the future of biology? Download the report, publish your own toolkit, and let proteins—and ideas—fold in public.