The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper for their groundbreaking work in understanding protein structure, a critical aspect of biological function in all living organisms. Hassabis and Jumper, from Google DeepMind, created an artificial intelligence tool that predicts protein structures, while Baker, from the University of Washington, has been recognized for designing novel proteins.
Proteins are essential molecules that drive life’s processes, making up everything from our muscles to the antibodies that guard against infections. “To understand life, you first need to understand the shape of proteins,” stated Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, during a press conference.
All proteins consist of chains of amino acids—around 20 different types—and their three-dimensional shape is dictated by the amino acid sequence. However, predicting a protein’s structure from its sequence has long been deemed a complex challenge. “For several decades, this was considered impossible,” remarked Linke.
Historically, various computational techniques to predict protein structures yielded low accuracy, until the introduction of AlphaFold by Hassabis and Jumper. The first iteration of AlphaFold was released in 2018 and marked a significant improvement over previous efforts. The second version, launched in 2020, achieved an unprecedented accuracy rate of over 90% in predicting two-thirds of protein structures.
By 2022, AlphaFold had successfully predicted the structure of nearly all known proteins, making these invaluable results publicly accessible. “It was an enormous breakthrough,” noted Johan Åqvist, member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry. “This is a fantastic resource for chemical and biological research.”
In parallel, Baker has concentrated on designing proteins with specific structures, presenting a wide array of applications from disease treatment to developing complex nanomachines. “David Baker opened up a completely new world of proteins that we had never seen before,” Åqvist said. “It’s a mind-blowing development.”
Baker developed the software Rosetta, which allows for protein design, initial validation of which occurred back in 2003. This early work, though significant, produced a small and simple protein that lacked functionality. Baker emphasizes that advancements came gradually, stating, “Over the last 20 years, we’ve been able to design proteins with increasingly complex and powerful functions.”
He added, “As we got better and better at that, the scope of applications became more and more exciting. It’s been a huge opening of possibilities, as proteins mediate all processes in our bodies and all living things.”
Despite speculation regarding his potential win, Baker expressed surprise at receiving the prestigious award, calling it a “unique, special day.” This chemistry prize marks the third Nobel awarded this year, following the prizes in physics and physiology or medicine.
Last year’s Nobel in Chemistry honored three developers of quantum dots—tiny particles whose properties are profoundly influenced by quantum physics.
