Two Google DeepMind scientists shared the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with a US professor for his or her groundbreaking protein research.
Half of the 11 million kronor ($1.1 million) prize might be split between Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind, and John M. Jumper, a senior research scientist at the corporate, a Google subsidiary, The Royal The Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm announced this in a press release on Wednesday.
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Hassabis and Jumper “developed an AI model to solve a 50-year-old problem: predicting the complex structures of proteins” from their amino acid sequences, the academy said. The rest goes to David Baker, a professor on the University of Washington who developed entirely recent forms of proteins, which the academy called “an almost impossible feat.”
Hassabis, 48, was a young chess prodigy who studied neuroscience before co-founding DeepMind in London in 2010. Google acquired the AI lab in 2014 and invested resources into the unit. DeepMind was known for large advances in machine intelligence, corresponding to its AI model that defeated champions in the sport of Go.
The scientist has long pushed his researchers to pursue AI applications in chemistry and biology. His lab published necessary research on AlphaFold in 2020, demonstrating algorithms that would predict the structure of proteins – a breakthrough with major implications for drug discovery and understanding of disease.
This work has improved understanding of antibiotic resistance and enabled the creation of images of enzymes that may break down plastic.
In 2021, Alphabet founded Isomorphic Labs, a brand new subsidiary spun out of DeepMind focused on using AI for pharmaceuticals. Hassabis also runs this company. Last 12 months, the chief was tapped to guide all of Google's AI efforts. As Bloomberg News previously reported, he had previously told colleagues that he was aiming for a Nobel Prize.
Baker, a Seattle native, has developed computational methods for making proteins that didn't exist before, a lot of which have entirely recent functions. These may be used, for instance, as medicines, vaccines, nanomaterials and tiny sensors.
Names leaked
Last 12 months's chemistry prize went to Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov for the invention and development of quantum dots, that are tiny nanoparticles that may be utilized in televisions and LED lights. The announcement was met with high drama because the honorees' names were leaked in an email that seemed to be sent by mistake that morning.
Annual prizes for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace were established in the desire of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite, who died in 1896. In 1968 the Swedish central bank added a prize in economics.
The winners might be announced in Stockholm by October 14, apart from the Peace Prize, whose recipients might be chosen by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.
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