Chemistry Nobel 2024: Google DeepMind Scientists Among 3 Winners 'Who Cracked The Code For Proteins' Amazing Structures'

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John M. Jumper for their contributions to computational protein design and protein structure prediction.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2024: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, announced Wednesday that the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2024 will be awarded to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John M. Jumper. This year's Chemistry Nobel is about proteins, the "ingenious chemical tools" of life. While one half of the prize will go to David Baker for “for computational protein design”, the other half is being given jointly to Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper “for protein structure prediction". 

"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," the Nobel Prize official handle posted. 

While David Baker teaches at the University of Washington, Seattle, in the USA, Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper work with Google DeepMind in London, UK.

"They cracked the code for proteins' amazing structures," the Nobel website said about the work done by Baker, Hassabis and Jumper. 

David Baker has achieved the remarkable task of creating entirely new types of proteins, while Demis Hassabis and John Jumper have pioneered an AI model that tackles a 50-year-old challenge: predicting proteins’ intricate structures. Together, these breakthroughs carry vast potential because proteins serve various functions — as hormones, signalling molecules, antibodies, and as building blocks for different tissues. 

"This year’s discoveries spotlight two groundbreaking advancements: one in the design of remarkable new proteins, and the other in achieving a 50-year aspiration to predict protein structures from amino acid sequences. Both open vast opportunities,” said Heiner Linke, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.

ALSO READ ON ABP LIVE | Nobel Prize 2024 In Medicine Goes To Victor Ambros And Gary Ruvkun For Discovery Of MicroRNA

Work Done By Baker, Hassabis And Jumper That Earns Them 2024 Chemistry Nobel 

Proteins are typically composed of 20 amino acids, considered life’s fundamental building blocks. In 2003, David Baker broke new ground by using these blocks to engineer an entirely new protein, unlike any other. Since then, his team has continually developed innovative proteins with potential uses in medicine, vaccines, nanotechnology, and sensory devices.

The second breakthrough addresses the complex prediction of protein structures. Proteins fold into specific three-dimensional shapes based on their amino acid sequences — a structure critical to their function. While predicting these structures has been an elusive goal for researchers since the 1970s, a major breakthrough arrived in 2020.

That year, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper introduced AlphaFold2, an AI model capable of predicting the structures of almost all known proteins — over 200 million in total. Since then, AlphaFold2 has been employed by over two million users across 190 countries, aiding scientists in exploring antibiotic resistance and visualizing enzymes that break down plastic.

This was the 116th Nobel Chemistry Prize to be awarded. The Chemistry Nobel had been awarded 115 times until now, with 194 recipients between 1901 and 2023. Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus, and Aleksey Yekimov were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2023 “for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots”.

The Nobel prizes for 2024 have already been announced for physiology/medicine and physics.

Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun are getting the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or for their discovery of microRNA and its role, while John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton got the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2024 for their work on machine learning.

While the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel przies for physics and chemistry, The Nobel Foundation collaborates with Karolinska Institute for the Medicine Nobel, the Swedish Academy for Literature Nobel, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee for Peace Nobel.

The 2024 Nobel Prize for Literature will be announced on Thursday, October 10, the Peace Nobel will be announced on Friday, October 11, and the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel will be announced on Monday, October 14.