Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus, and Alexei Ekimov were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 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.’

Nobel laureates Demis Hassabis and John Jumper have successfully utilised AI to predict the structure of almost all known proteins. In 2020, Hassabis and Jumper presented an AI model called AlphaFold2. 

With its help, they have been able to predict the structure of virtually all the 200 million proteins that researchers have identified. Since their breakthrough, AlphaFold2 has been used by more than two million people from 190 countries. Among a myriad of scientific applications, researchers can now better understand antibiotic resistance and create images of enzymes that can decompose plastic.

Hassabis and Jumper developed AlphaFold2, which successfully predicts the three-dimensional structures of nearly all known proteins, approximately 200 million overcoming a challenge that has perplexed scientists for over 50 years. Their groundbreaking work allows researchers to quickly access protein structures, significantly enhancing studies in areas such as antibiotic resistance and environmental sustainability.

David Baker’s contribution lies in the creation of entirely new proteins through computational methods, enabling innovative applications in pharmaceuticals and green chemistry. His work allows researchers to design proteins from scratch, pushing the boundaries of biotechnology.

The synergy between AI advancements and computational design has opened unprecedented possibilities in the understanding of life’s building blocks, heralding a new era of biochemical research.

Recently, Geoffrey E Hinton and John J Hopfield were also awarded the Nobel Physics Prize 2024 in Physics by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for pioneering advancements that form the basis of today’s ML world. Their work used principles of physics to develop neural networks.

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