Trio wins Nobel Prize for study of proteins

The 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry has been awarded to scientists David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper for their work on understanding proteins.

The Nobel Committee for Chemistry at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in Stockholm, Sweden said it selected the three on Wednesday because of their work on computational protein design, and for advances in protein structure prediction, which it said together revolutionized the field of biochemistry.

United Kingdom-based Hassabis, who co-founded the artificial intelligence research company that became Google DeepMind, was singled out for working with Jumper to create AI that can predict the structures of proteins.

Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said their work fulfilled "a 50-year-old dream" of being able to "predict protein structures from their amino acid sequences".

U.S.-based Baker was praised for using amino acids to design a new protein. The committee said his work opened the door to the creation of proteins that could be used in medicines and vaccines.

Baker, a professor at the University of Washington, said modestly he "stood on the shoulders of giants" to make the breakthrough and that winning the award made him feel "very excited and very honored".

A year ago, the Nobel Prize in chemistry was won by three scientists who increased understanding of quantum dots — tiny particles a few nanometers wide that emit light and are widely used today in flat screens, LED lamps and medical imaging equipment.

Wednesday's announcement followed the unveiling on Tuesday of the winners of the Nobel Prize in physics, and Monday's heralding of the winners of the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.

The flurry of Nobel Prize announcements continues on Thursday with the awarding of the Nobel Prize in literature and Friday's declaration of the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Prize, the prize for excellence in economics, will be announced on Monday.