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20242020s
David Baker
Biochemist who shared the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for computational protein design, alongside the AlphaFold pair.
Organizations
University of WashingtonInstitute for Protein DesignHoward Hughes Medical Institute
Major Achievements
- •Shared the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Demis Hassabis and John Jumper — his half was for designing entirely new proteins.
- •Created Rosetta, the software suite that made computational protein structure prediction and design practical.
- •Developed RFdiffusion, applying diffusion models to generate proteins that do not exist in nature.
- •Founded the Institute for Protein Design, where the generative half of the AI-and-biology story is largely centred.
Key Papers
- De Novo Design of Protein Structure and Function with RFdiffusion
Joseph L. Watson, David Juergens, Nathaniel R. Bennett · Nature · 2023