2024 Nobel prize in Chemistry awarded to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has announced the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, awarded to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper for their revolutionary work in protein science. David Baker, a professor at the University of Washington, was recognized for his pioneering achievements in computational protein design. His research has enabled scientists to design entirely new proteins with applications in fields like pharmaceuticals, vaccines, nanotechnology, and biosensors. One of Baker's significant milestones came in 2003 when he designed a protein from scratch, and his work has since expanded to numerous innovative protein applications.

Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, researchers at Google DeepMind, received the other half of the Nobel Prize for their development of AlphaFold2, an artificial intelligence (AI) model that can predict the complex 3D structure of proteins from their amino acid sequences. This breakthrough, achieved in 2020, solved a long-standing challenge in biology. Previously, determining protein structures required time-consuming experimental methods, but AlphaFold2 can predict nearly all 200 million proteins identified by scientists. This advancement has revolutionized research, addressing critical issues such as antibiotic resistance, disease treatments, and plastic degradation.

The Nobel Committee highlighted that these breakthroughs open vast possibilities for science and humanity. David Baker's computational designs have the potential to create new drugs and materials, while AlphaFold2 has become a global tool, used by millions of researchers. The combined impact of these discoveries is expected to drive advancements in medicine, environmental sustainability, and biotechnology.

The 2024 Nobel Prize, valued at 11 million Swedish crowns ($1.1 million), will be formally awarded in Stockholm on December 10, followed by the traditional Nobel banquet.