This year’s (2024) Chemistry Nobel has been awarded to three scientists jointly — David Baker, John Jumper and Demis Hassabis. The prize has been awarded for work decoding the structure of proteins and creating new ones. The research is extremely valuable for new drug development.

In fact, half the prize (half of $1.1 million) has been awarded to Baker for ‘ computational protein design’ and the other half has been awarded to Hassabis and Jumper ‘for protein structure prediction.’

Baker (62), a professor at the University of Washington, Seattle has mastered life’s building blocks and create new proteins. He is a PhD from University of California. The work on protein design makes the world a better place in health, medicine and outside technology. In 2003, Baker was able to use amino acids (life’s building blocks) to design a new protein, unlike any existing one. That opened a way to rapid creation of different proteins for use in areas such as phamaceuticals, vaccines, nanomaterials and tiny sensors. Baker developed computational tools that enable scientists to design new proteins with altogether novel shapes and functions. The field offers endless possibilities for the greatest benefits to mankind.

Hassabis (48) is the CEO of Google DeepMind. He is a PhD from University College of London. John Jumper (39) is senior research assistant at Google DeepMind. Hassabis and Bumper utilized AI to predict the structure of almost all known proteins. In 2020, Hassabis and Jumper developed an AI model AlphaFold2 to predict the structure of virtually all the 200 million proteins that researchers have identified. Jumper is a PhD from the University of Chicago.

Thus, Baker’s work concerns the construction of spectacular proteins and Hassabis and Jumper’s work fulfills a 50-year-old dream — predicting protein structures from their amino acid sequences.

There are 20 different amino acids that serve as the building blocks of proteins. Some proteins called enzymes can accelerate biochemical reactions within the body, while some provide structural support to cells and tissues. Some proteins help in immune response, and some other store nutrients and energy. The sequence of amino acids determines the structure of proteins, and the structure determines the functions of proteins.

This week the Physics Nobel was awarded to Hopefield and Hinton involving AI. The Chemistry Nobel is the second this week for work involving AI.