Google DeepMind scientists and a creator of new proteins are awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to three scientists, including two lead researchers from Google DeepMind.
Here's What We Know
DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis and DeepMind Senior Scientist John Jumper received the award for creating the AlphaFold2 artificial intelligence model that predicts the structure of human proteins. The model has been able to predict the structure of almost all 200 million known proteins, which opens up huge opportunities for science.
The third laureate, David Baker, was recognised for his achievements in computational protein design. In 2003, he created a new protein unlike any previously known and has since developed many new proteins for pharmaceuticals, vaccines, nanomaterials and sensors.
Work that once took years now takes just a few minutes thanks to this year's chemistry laureates.
- The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 9, 2024
2024 #NobelPrize laureates Demis Hassabis and John Jumper have used their AI model AlphaFold2 to calculate the structure of all human proteins. They also predicted the structure of... pic.twitter.com/3xAKhbhYUv
Heiner Linke, chairman of the Nobel Committee in Chemistry, said that these discoveries make it possible to build unique proteins and predict their structures from amino acid sequences, which has been a dream of scientists for 50 years. These advances greatly accelerate scientific research, which previously took years, but can now be done in minutes.
Source: Nobel Prize
