PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Kathryn Tunyasuvunakool

Kathryn Tunyasuvunakool is a research scientist whose work helped develop AlphaFold, a machine-learning method for predicting protein structures. Her undergraduate mathematics and graduate computational biology studies led to PhD work modeling Caenorhabditis elegans development. In 2020, she compared AlphaFold predictions with experimental structures, and her observations prompted work on AlphaFold Multimer. In 2021, she coauthored AlphaFold and human-proteome papers and developed the database pipelines; in 2022, she highlighted AlphaFold’s use in nuclear-pore research, led work on all human proteins, and received MIT Technology Review’s Innovator Under 35 honor in AI and robotics. She coauthored a 2024 review of AlphaFold’s validation and impact, and she is a Principal Research Scientist at Isomorphic Labs after joining in October 2026.

Timeline

  1. By 2020

    Mathematics and computational biology

    By 2020, her training spans undergraduate mathematics and graduate computational biology, and her PhD work helps model elements of Caenorhabditis elegans development.

  2. 2020

    AlphaFold comparisons

    In 2020, she compares AlphaFold’s predictions with structures from experimental studies reported in high-impact journals.

  3. 2020

    AlphaFold Multimer

    In 2020, her observations prompt work on AlphaFold Multimer, a version trained for multichain protein complexes.

  4. 2021

    AlphaFold and the human proteome

    In 2021, she coauthors the Nature AlphaFold paper and the human-proteome study. She develops data-processing pipelines for the AlphaFold protein-structure database.

  5. 2022

    Nuclear pore and human proteins

    In 2022, she highlights AlphaFold predictions used to complete and interpret unclear regions of the nuclear pore complex. She leads work to predict and study structures for all human proteins.

  6. 2022

    AlphaFold and an Innovator Under 35

    In 2022, she is part of the team that develops AlphaFold, a machine-learning method for predicting protein structures. MIT Technology Review names her an Innovator Under 35 in artificial intelligence and robotics.

  7. 2024

    AlphaFold validation and impact

    In 2024, she coauthors a PNAS review on AlphaFold’s validation and impact.

  8. October 2026

    Joining Isomorphic Labs

    In October 2026, she joins Isomorphic Labs as Principal Research Scientist, following her work at Google DeepMind.

Career

  1. Until 2026Google DeepMind
  2. From 2026Isomorphic LabsPrincipal Research Scientist

From the biography.

  1. Of 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google, 446 work there nowIncludes Kathryn Tunyasuvunakool. Our estimates of where the 943 people shaping AI who worked at Google and Google DeepMind work now: 446 at Google and 452 across 278 other organizations.
  2. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Includes Google. Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.
  3. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes Google. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.
  4. 20% of people at companies who shape AI also hold a university role, led by Google and Stanford UniversityIncludes Google. We estimate that 539 of the 6,766 people with a known current organization (8%) hold both a university role and a company role, including 20% of people at companies and 13% of people at universities.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Kathryn Tunyasuvunakool yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Predicting the Structures of Proteins physics.aps.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. Highly accurate protein structure prediction with AlphaFold nature.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Highly accurate protein structure prediction for the human proteome nature.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. AlphaFold reveals the structure of the protein universe deepmind.google. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Kathryn Tunyasuvunakool | Innovators Under 35 innovatorsunder35.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. MIT Technology Review announces the 2022 Innovators Under 35 prnewswire.com. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. AlphaFold two years on: Validation and impact pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. Kathryn Tunyasuvunakool joins Isomorphic Labs · Turing Tree turingtree.com. Checked 20 October 2026.