Žiga Avsec

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AI decodes the genome's dark matter

Leading DeepMind's genomics initiative

For twenty years after scientists sequenced the human genome, 98% of it remained essentially unreadable. The protein-coding genes were mapped, but the vast regulatory regions—the genome's operating system—stayed opaque. On January 28, 2026, Google DeepMind released the full source code for AlphaGenome, an artificial intelligence model that predicts how genetic variants in these non-coding regions affect gene regulation and disease.

Updated May 26

Notable Quotes

Previously, the field required separate models for separate tasks. AlphaGenome unifies these under one roof.

from AI decodes the genome's dark matter · Updated May 26

Long sequences—up to a million DNA letters long—were required to understand the full regulatory environment of a single gene.

from AI decodes the genome's dark matter · Updated May 26