David Baker—the Henrietta and Aubrey Davis Endowed Professor of Biochemistry, adjunct professor of Bioengineering and the director of the Institute for Protein Design—has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for computational protein design.
Baker shares the award with Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper from DeepMind, a Google subsidiary researching artificial intelligence. Hassabis and Jumper were recognized for their work in protein structure prediction.
The award was announced on October 9 by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and will be presented during a ceremony on December 10.
Proteins are essential to cellular function, and their structure determines how they work. David Baker has spent decades using computational methods to understand protein folding, and recently harnessed AI to predict protein structures with remarkable speed and accuracy.
Baker also co-developed the game “Foldit” with colleagues at the UW Center for Game Science, enabling non-scientists to solve protein puzzles, contributing to research on cancer, Alzheimer’s and more.
The Baker lab designs novel proteins, such as those targeting viruses and cancer cells; the lab also helped develop a second-generation COVID-19 vaccine. Baker has published over 640 papers, been awarded over 100 patents and co-founded 21 biotech companies. 90 of his doctoral and postdoctoral trainees have also gone on to independent faculty positions.
This momentous achievement is emblematic of Baker’s dedication to scientific excellence, and his work in protein design will continue to have significant impacts on both the research community and patient-facing healthcare outcomes.