Trio of 'protein pioneers' use AI to win 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

STORY: :: A science and engineering trio has won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for using AI to decipher and create new protein structures

:: October 9, 2024

:: Stockholm, Sweden

:: The breakthrough with the help of Google's AI research subsidiary could support the development of medicines and vaccines

:: David Baker, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry

“In protein design, we figured out how to make new proteins that could solve new problems. And so my colleagues and I have been working, or are now working, to design new proteins that could lead to improved drugs and improved vaccines.”

:: Seattle, Washington

::Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede, member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry

“We have known for over 50 years that all information is contained in this pearl of threads. The Floppy Spaghetti knows what to do. But scientists, we don't understand this. And we solved that today. You know, today's prize goes to understanding. Now you can take a sequence of amino acids, basically do a Google search and out comes the structure of the protein.”

Half of the prize went to Baker “for computational protein design,” while Hassabis and Jumper shared the other half “for protein structure prediction,” said the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the prize.

Baker is a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, while Hassabis is CEO of Google DeepMind, the AI ​​research subsidiary of Google GOOGL.O , where Jumper also works as a senior research scientist.

Hassabis and Jumper used artificial intelligence to predict the structure of almost all known proteins, while Baker learned how to master the building blocks of life and create entirely new proteins, according to the awarding organization.

“I'm really excited about all the ways protein design is making the world a better place in health, medicine, and indeed outside of technology,” Baker said by phone at the press conference announcing the prize.

The prize is widely considered one of the most prestigious in the scientific world and is worth $1.1 million.