AS/STA
9. 10. 2024, 12.46
Updated: 9/10/2024, 12:53 p.m
The prestigious prize in the field of chemistry will be awarded this year to the American scientist David Baker for the computational design of proteins and the British-American scientific duo Demis Hassabis and John Jumper for their work in the field of protein structure prediction, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced today in Stockholm.
One of the discoveries recognized this year concerns the construction of proteins. The second concerns the realization of a 50-year-old dream – predicting the structure of proteins from their amino acid sequences. Both discoveries open up great possibilities, said the chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry Heiner Linke.
Proteins or proteins are usually made up of 20 amino acids. It was in 2003 Baker managed to design a new protein, and since then his research team has been creating a variety of proteins, including those that can be used as drugs, vaccines, nanomaterials and small sensors, the statement said.
Achievement Hassabisa in Jumper meanwhile, refers to the prediction of protein structures. Namely, in proteins, amino acids are connected in long chains that fold into a three-dimensional structure, which is key to the functioning of the protein. In 2020, a British and an American moved the AlphaFold2 artificial intelligence model, with the help of which they managed to predict the structure of practically all identified proteins. “Life could not exist without protein. That we can now predict protein structures and design our own proteins is the greatest benefit to mankind,” it says in the explanation.
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to researchers Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus in Alexey Ekimov for a contribution in the field of quantum dot research – semiconductor nanostructures that are used in various technological fields, from LED screens to tumor surgery.
This year’s Nobel Laureate announcements began on Monday with the announcement of the winners for Medicine and Physiology. On Tuesday, the winner was announced for physics, and today for chemistry. The winner of the prize for literature will be announced on Thursday, and for peace on Friday. The winners of the economics award will be announced on Monday.
The award ceremony will take place on December 10 in Oslo and Stockholm, on the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death. Each prize brings a check in the amount of 11 million Swedish kroner, or just over 900,000 euros. If there are several winners, the amount is divided between them.
Source: svet24.si
