Trio wins chemistry Nobel for protein design, prediction

On Wednesday, British scientist Demis Hassabis and Americans David Baker and John Jumper were awarded a combined Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work using artificial intelligence and computing to unlock the mysteries of proteins.

Half of the prize went to biochemist Baker, 62, “for computational protein design,” and Jumper and Hassabis shared the other half “for protein structure prediction,” according to the judges.

“David Baker has succeeded with the almost impossible feat of building entirely new kinds of proteins,” the Nobel committee said in a statement.

It added that his work has led to the creation of proteins that “can be used as pharmaceuticals, vaccines, nanomaterials and tiny sensors.”

As the leaders of Google Deepmind, Hassabis and Jumper have created “an AI model to solve a 50-year-old problem: predicting proteins’ complex structures,” according to the jury.

Among the people who were tipped to win this year’s Nobel for their work on the AI-model Alphafold were Hassabis, 48, and Jumper, 85.

Based on the amino acid sequence of the protein, the AI tool predicts the three-dimensional structure of the protein.

The jury concluded that the laureates’ discoveries “hold enormous potential.”

Awarded since 1901, the Nobel Prizes honour those who have, in the words of prize creator and scientist Alfred Nobel, “conferred the greatest benefit on humankind”.

The Tuesday Physics Prize honored significant advances in artificial intelligence (AI), with American John Hopfield and Canadian-British Geoffrey Hinton—dubbed the “Godfather of AI”—winning the distinction.

American scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun were granted the Medicine Prize on Monday in recognition of their discovery of microRNA and its function in the regulation of genes.

The much awaited prizes for literature on Thursday and peace on Friday will take place after the chemistry prize.

Finalizing the proceedings is the Economics Prize on Monday, October 14.

The winners will receive their prize, consisting of a diploma, a gold medal and a $1 million cheque, from King Carl XVI Gustaf in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of scientist Alfred Nobel who created the prizes in his will.