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Nobel Prize Chemistry 2024: Revolutionizing Protein Science

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded a prize of 11 million Swedish kronor to David Baker and Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper for their work in computational protein design and protein structure prediction.

Award Overview and Recipients

Awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Prize amount: 11 million Swedish kronor

Nobel Prize in Chemistry Recipients:

a) David Baker (University of Washington, Seattle) - Half the prize

b) Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper (Google DeepMind, London) - Jointly sharing the other half

Baker recognized for computational protein design
Hassabis and Jumper honored for protein structure prediction

Breakthrough Achievements David Baker:

Succeeded in designing new proteins unlike any existing natural ones (2003)
Created innovative proteins for pharmaceuticals, vaccines, nanomaterials, and sensors
Pioneered reengineering of life's building blocks for functional proteins

Demis Hassabis and John Jumper:

Developed AlphaFold2, an AI model that predicts protein structures (2020)
Solved a 50-year-old problem in biology
Successfully predicted structures of nearly all 200 million known proteins
AlphaFold2 used by over 2 million researchers from 190 countries

Significance and Applications

Proteins: Essential chemical tools controlling life processes
Baker's work enables creation of custom proteins for specific functions
AlphaFold2 provides unprecedented insight into protein structures

Applications include:

a) Drug discovery and development

b) Understanding and combating antibiotic resistance

c) Designing enzymes for plastic decomposition

d) Advancing research in biochemistry and molecular biology

Opens new possibilities in medicine, biotechnology, and environmental science

Impact on AI and Scientific Research

Demonstrates the potential of AI in solving complex scientific problems
Highlights Google's role in advancing AI research (both Hassabis and Jumper work at Google DeepMind)
Follows the Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Geoffrey Hinton, another Google-affiliated researcher
Underscores the growing importance of machine learning in scientific discoveries
Represents a significant step towards AI-driven scientific breakthroughs

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