The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to three pioneering scientists for their revolutionary work in protein science, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Wednesday. David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John M. Jumper were honored for their contributions to “computational protein design” and “protein structure prediction,” areas that have transformed biological research and opened new avenues for medical and material advancements.
BREAKING NEWS
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2024 #NobelPrize in Chemistry with one half to David Baker “for computational protein design” and the other half jointly to Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper “for protein structure prediction.” pic.twitter.com/gYrdFFcD4T— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 9, 2024
The prize is divided into two halves, with one half awarded to David Baker for his innovative research in creating entirely new types of proteins. The other half is shared by Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper for developing an artificial intelligence model that solved a 50-year-old problem of predicting complex protein structures—a breakthrough with enormous implications for scientific research.
The Nobel laureates will share the prize of 11 million Swedish kronor (approximately $1 million), with half awarded to David Baker and the other half shared between Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper.
The Nobel Committee highlighted the impact of their discoveries on the understanding of proteins, the building blocks of life. Proteins, composed of 20 amino acids, are essential to all biological functions. The ability to manipulate and predict their structures holds enormous potential for fields like medicine, biotechnology, and environmental science.
David Baker, from the University of Washington, was recognized for his pioneering work in computational protein design. In 2003, he successfully created a new protein using amino acid sequences, which had never been done before.
Since then, Baker’s team has designed a range of innovative proteins with potential applications in pharmaceuticals, vaccines, nanomaterials, and sensors. His work has demonstrated how custom-made proteins could be harnessed to fight diseases, serve as diagnostic tools, or even build entirely new materials.
The second half of the prize celebrates a breakthrough that solved one of biology’s most challenging problems, predicting protein structures from amino acid sequences. For decades, researchers struggled with this notoriously difficult task, as the specific way in which proteins fold into three-dimensional shapes determines their function. The mystery continued for over 50 years until 2020, when Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper, working with the company DeepMind, introduced AlphaFold2.
AlphaFold2 is an AI model that rapidly predicts protein structures with remarkable accuracy. This advancement has revolutionized biological research, enabling scientists to predict the structure of nearly all of the 200 million known proteins. The technology is widely used by researchers across 190 countries and has been applied to a broad range of challenges, from combating antibiotic resistance to designing enzymes that break down plastic.
