Award winners’ method turns life science research on its head
Published: Wednesday, Oct 9th 2024, 16:00
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The researchers who have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry have revolutionized the way life science research is conducted with their protein research based on artificial intelligence. According to one expert, never before has a computer-aided method established itself so quickly in science.
One half of the award went to the two AI researchers Demis Hassabis and John Jumper. After John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton were honored yesterday for their basic research in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), the chemistry award is a final result of what is possible with AI, said Torsten Schwede, professor at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel, when asked by the news agency Keystone-SDA.
For the first time, a fundamental scientific problem has been successfully tackled using AI. The researchers were able to develop a novel algorithm for predicting protein structures. According to Schwede, the Alphafold software makes it possible to make reliable predictions for the three-dimensional structures of all natural proteins.
David Baker was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry on Wednesday. His work allows a better understanding of the principles of protein folding. It is therefore possible to design new proteins that still exist in nature, said Schwede. This could help to make chemical processes more sustainable, get away from plastic or accelerate the discovery and development of new medicines.
©Keystone/SDA
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