AI and computer in protein research; Google scientists Demis Hassabis & John Jumper and biochemist David Baker share nobel in chemistry

STOCKHOLM: Two artificial intelligence scientists from Google and an American biochemistry scientist have shared this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their research on the three-dimensional structure and design of proteins.

British computer scientist Sir Demis Hassabis (48) co-founder and CEO of Google's artificial intelligence company DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs, and senior research scientist Dr. John Jumper (39) and David Baker (62) a professor at the University of Washington, are the winners of the award. Half of the prize money of eight crore rupees will go to David Baker. The rest will be shared by Google scientists.

These discoveries about the proteins that control all the chemical reactions that are the basis of life are revolutionary.

3D structure of proteins

Google scientists were awarded the Nobel Prize for their artificial intelligence model called the Alpha Fold to predict the three-dimensional structure of a protein from the amino acid sequence. A 50-year-old dream has come true. Research has been going on around the world since the 1970s to find out the three-dimensional structure of proteins from the chemical composition of proteins in 20 different amino acids. In 2020, an AI technique called Alpha Fold-2 was developed. It has predicted 200 million protein structures in 10 lakh species found in the world so far. The function of the protein in cells is determined by its three-dimensional structure.

Computer Proteins

American scientist David Baker has created new protein models through 20 years of computational research. Baker's research to create proteins that are not present in nature was successful in 2023. These can be used in medicines, vaccines, nanomaterials and sensors. He created a number of hypothetical proteins with vast potential in medicine and materials science.