This year’s Nobel Prize in in chemistry have revealed proteins’ secrets through computing and artificial intelligence.
The 2024 Nobel Prize laureates in chemistry Demis Hassabis and John Jumper have successfully utilised artificial intelligence 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.
Chemists have long dreamed of fully understanding and mastering the chemical tools of life – proteins. This dream is now within reach. 2024 chemistry laureates Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper have successfully utilised artificial intelligence to predict the structure of almost all known proteins. This year’s chemistry laureate David Baker has learned how to master life’s building blocks and create entirely new proteins. The potential of their discoveries is enormous.
The ability to create proteins that are loaded with new functions is just as astounding. This can lead to new nanomaterials, targeted pharmaceuticals, more rapid development of vaccines, minimal sensors and a greener chemical industry – to name just a few applications that are for the greatest benefit of humankind.
Who was Awarded with 2024 Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded on Wednesday to David Baker from the University of Washington for “computational protein design” and to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper of Google DeepMind for “protein structure prediction.”
What’s most exciting is that this prize has opened up a completely new world of protein structures.” Immediately after the announcement, Professor Johan Åqvist, was interviewed regarding the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
“It’s absolutely extraordinary.” John Jumper just heard the news of his 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry when we spoke to him. His plan was to sleep in today – it didn’t quite work out. He talks about AI’s role in science – and being the youngest chemistry laureate in over 70
What and how they discovered ?
1.This year’s chemistry laureates Demis Hassabis and John Jumper have developed an AI model, AlphaFold2, to solve a 50-year-old problem: predicting proteins’ complex structures. Check out two examples of protein structures determined using AlphaFold2. First up, a bacterial enzyme that causes antibiotic resistance. The structure is important for discovering ways of preventing antibiotic resistance.
2. 2024 Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry David Baker has succeeded with the almost impossible feat of building entirely new kinds of proteins. In recent years, one incredible protein creation after the other has emerged from Baker’s laboratory. They range from new nanomaterials where up to 120 proteins spontaneously link together to proteins that function as a type of molecular rotor.
3. Let’s take a closer look at this protein structure determined using AlphaFold2. This protein structure is part of a huge molecular structure in the human body. More than a thousand proteins form a pore through the membrane surrounding the cell nucleus.
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