"Enormous potential"

Nobel Prize in Chemistry for protein code-breaker

In 2024, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry will go to protein researchers David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper.

(Bild: APA Pool/AFP)

Half of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry will go to US researcher David Baker from the University of Washington (USA) "for computer-aided protein design" and the other half to British-born Demis Hassabis and his US colleague John M. Jumper, who both work at Google DeepMind in London, "for the prediction of protein structures".

This was announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm on Wednesday.

"Discoveries with enormous potential"
Baker had "achieved the almost impossible feat of building completely new types of proteins", the Nobel Prize Committee emphasized. Hassabis and Jumper have developed a model with artificial intelligence to solve a 50-year-old problem, which can be used to predict the complex structures of proteins. "These discoveries have enormous potential," they said.

The three laureates have already been named among the favorites for this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry by the data company Clarivate because they are among the most cited scientists.

(Bild: APA Pool/AFP)

The award is endowed with eleven million Swedish kronor (around 970,000 euros). The prize is traditionally awarded on December 10, the anniversary of the death of the founder Alfred Nobel.

Last year, the award went to the scientists Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Jekimow, who work in the USA, for the discovery and production of quantum dots.