diff --git a/packages/libs/wdk-client/src/Components/Display/CollapsibleSection.tsx b/packages/libs/wdk-client/src/Components/Display/CollapsibleSection.tsx
index a8570755b2..92359fe13e 100644
--- a/packages/libs/wdk-client/src/Components/Display/CollapsibleSection.tsx
+++ b/packages/libs/wdk-client/src/Components/Display/CollapsibleSection.tsx
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ const buttonStyle: React.CSSProperties = {
   padding: 0,
 };
 
-function CollapsibleSection(props: Props) {
+export function CollapsibleSection(props: Props) {
   const {
     className,
     id,
diff --git a/packages/sites/genomics-site/webapp/wdkCustomization/js/client/components/records/AlphaFoldAttributeSection.tsx b/packages/sites/genomics-site/webapp/wdkCustomization/js/client/components/records/AlphaFoldAttributeSection.tsx
index 5099634a84..620db4550b 100644
--- a/packages/sites/genomics-site/webapp/wdkCustomization/js/client/components/records/AlphaFoldAttributeSection.tsx
+++ b/packages/sites/genomics-site/webapp/wdkCustomization/js/client/components/records/AlphaFoldAttributeSection.tsx
@@ -1,21 +1,102 @@
 import React, { useEffect, useRef, useState } from 'react';
+
 import {
   BlockRecordAttributeSection,
   Props,
 } from '@veupathdb/wdk-client/lib/Views/Records/RecordAttributes/RecordAttributeSection';
 
+import { DefaultSectionTitle } from '@veupathdb/wdk-client/lib/Views/Records/SectionTitle';
+
+import { CollapsibleSection } from '@veupathdb/wdk-client/lib/Components/Display/CollapsibleSection';
+
+function AlphaFoldErrorWrapper({
+  children,
+  attribute: { name, displayName, help },
+  isCollapsed,
+  onCollapsedChange,
+  title,
+}: Props & { children: React.ReactNode }) {
+  const headerContent = title ?? (
+    <DefaultSectionTitle displayName={displayName} help={help} />
+  );
+
+  return (
+    <CollapsibleSection
+      id={name}
+      className="wdk-RecordAttributeSection"
+      headerContent={headerContent}
+      isCollapsed={isCollapsed}
+      onCollapsedChange={onCollapsedChange}
+    >
+      <div className="wdk-RecordAttributeSectionContent">{children}</div>
+    </CollapsibleSection>
+  );
+}
+
 /*
- * This component does two things:
- *
- * 1. It imports the required assets needed to render
- * the web component.
- * 2. It renders the attribute section as a block section.
+ * This component:
+ * 1. Pre-validates the AlphaFold data URL before rendering the web component
+ * 2. Imports the required assets for the pdbe-molstar viewer
+ * 3. Shows a friendly error if the AlphaFold structure file is not found
  */
 
 export function AlphaFoldRecordSection(props: Props) {
   const areAssetsLoadingRef = useRef(false);
+  const [dataUrlStatus, setDataUrlStatus] =
+    useState<'loading' | 'valid' | 'invalid' | null>(null);
+
+  // Get the attribute value (HTML containing the pdbe-molstar element)
+  const attributeName = props.attribute.name;
+  const attributeValue = props.record.attributes[attributeName];
+
+  // Extract the custom-data-url from the HTML
+  const extractDataUrl = (htmlString: string): string | null => {
+    if (typeof htmlString !== 'string') return null;
+    const match = htmlString.match(/custom-data-url=["']([^"']+)["']/);
+    return match ? match[1] : null;
+  };
+
+  const dataUrl = extractDataUrl(attributeValue + '');
+  const hasDataUrl = dataUrl !== null && dataUrl !== '';
+
+  // Pre-validate the data URL
+  useEffect(() => {
+    if (!props.isCollapsed && hasDataUrl && dataUrlStatus === null) {
+      setDataUrlStatus('loading');
+
+      // Make a HEAD request to check if the file exists
+      if (dataUrl !== null) {
+        fetch(dataUrl, { method: 'HEAD' })
+          .then((response) => {
+            if (response.ok) {
+              setDataUrlStatus('valid');
+            } else {
+              console.warn(
+                `AlphaFold structure file not found: ${dataUrl} (${response.status})`
+              );
+              setDataUrlStatus('invalid');
+            }
+          })
+          .catch((error) => {
+            console.warn(
+              `Failed to validate AlphaFold structure file: ${dataUrl}`,
+              error
+            );
+            setDataUrlStatus('invalid');
+          });
+      } else {
+        console.error('URL is null, cannot fetch data.');
+      }
+    }
+  }, [props.isCollapsed, hasDataUrl, dataUrl, dataUrlStatus]);
+
+  // Load viewer assets only if data URL is valid
   useEffect(() => {
-    if (!props.isCollapsed && !areAssetsLoadingRef.current) {
+    if (
+      !props.isCollapsed &&
+      !areAssetsLoadingRef.current &&
+      dataUrlStatus === 'valid'
+    ) {
       // Using dynamic import to lazy load these scripts
       // @ts-ignore
       import('../../../../../../vendored/pdbe-molstar-light-3.0.0.css');
@@ -23,7 +104,83 @@ export function AlphaFoldRecordSection(props: Props) {
       import('../../../../../../vendored/pdbe-molstar-component-3.0.0.js');
       areAssetsLoadingRef.current = true;
     }
-  }, [props.isCollapsed]);
+  }, [props.isCollapsed, dataUrlStatus]);
+
+  // Handle missing data URL
+  if (!hasDataUrl) {
+    return (
+      <div
+        className="wdk-RecordAttributeSectionItem"
+        style={{ padding: '1em' }}
+      >
+        <p>
+          <em>AlphaFold structure prediction not available for this gene.</em>
+        </p>
+      </div>
+    );
+  }
+
+  // Handle data URL validation in progress
+  if (dataUrlStatus === 'loading') {
+    return (
+      <div
+        className="wdk-RecordAttributeSectionItem"
+        style={{ padding: '1em' }}
+      >
+        <p>
+          <em>Loading structure data...</em>
+        </p>
+      </div>
+    );
+  }
+
+  // Handle invalid/not found data URL
+  if (dataUrlStatus === 'invalid') {
+    return (
+      <AlphaFoldErrorWrapper {...props}>
+        <div
+          className="wdk-RecordAttributeSectionItem"
+          style={{ margin: '1em 0' }}
+        >
+          <div
+            style={{
+              padding: '1em',
+              color: '#721c24',
+              backgroundColor: '#f8d7da',
+              border: '1px solid #f5c6cb',
+              borderRadius: '4px',
+            }}
+          >
+            <h4>AlphaFold Structure Prediction Visualization not available</h4>
+            <p>
+              The predicted structure file could not be found. This may be
+              because:
+            </p>
+            <ul style={{ marginTop: '0.5em', marginBottom: '0' }}>
+              <li>The structure has not been predicted yet</li>
+              <li>The structure file is temporarily unavailable</li>
+              <li>
+                This gene/protein is not eligible for AlphaFold prediction
+              </li>
+            </ul>
+            {process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production' && (
+              <details open style={{ marginTop: '1em' }}>
+                <summary style={{ cursor: 'pointer' }}>
+                  Technical details
+                </summary>
+                <code style={{ fontSize: '0.85em', wordBreak: 'break-all' }}>
+                  {dataUrl}
+                </code>{' '}
+                returns 404 Not Found.
+              </details>
+            )}
+          </div>
+        </div>
+      </AlphaFoldErrorWrapper>
+    );
+  }
+
+  // Render normally if data URL is valid
   return (
     <>
       <BlockRecordAttributeSection {...props} />