An iGEMer wins the Nobel Prize for Chemistry
David Baker, Faculty Advisor of University of Washington iGEM team and Director of the UW Medicine Institute for Protein Design, has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in computational protein design.
The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry honors groundbreaking work on proteins, which are essential components of life. David Baker achieved the remarkable feat of designing entirely new proteins. He shares the prize with Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, who developed an AI model that solves the long-standing challenge of predicting complex protein structures.
“One of the discoveries being recognised this year concerns the construction of spectacular proteins. The other is about fulfilling a 50-year-old dream: predicting protein structures from their amino acid sequences. Both of these discoveries open up vast possibilities,” says Heiner Linke, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.
Image Credits: Ian C. Haydon/UW Medicine
“David Baker’s pioneering work in computational protein design has revolutionized how we study and engineer proteins, and has directly inspired iGEM teams to create impactful innovations, from enzyme therapeutics to biosensors. We are incredibly proud to count him among our alumni and to celebrate his Nobel Prize with our community.”
David Baker & iGEM
Baker has been a part of our community since 2009 as a faculty advisor of the University of Washington iGEM Team, and his lab has been a home to iGEMers for over a decade.
He advised iGEM teams on projects including developing yeast biosensors, improving protein stability, and creating computational tools for research. They also worked on diesel fuel production, and engineered E. coli to combat Gram-negative bacteria, while advancing protein purification systems.
As a hub for innovation his lab has supported a generation of scientists who have gone on to make significant contributions in the field. One notable example is Ingrid Swanson Pultz, an iGEMer who led the development of PvP Biologics. PvP Biologics got its start as an iGEM project when the 2011 University of Washington (2011 Grand Prize-winning team) created KumaMax, the first recombinant candidate enzyme therapeutic for celiac disease. The startup was acquired by Takeda Pharmaceuticals in 2020 for $300M and is currently in Phase 2 of their clinical trials.
On behalf of iGEM and synthetic biology community, we congratulate David Baker for his well-deserved recognition with the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and his contributions to the field through his own work and the work of his students.
The award, announced on Oct. 9, by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, will be presented in a ceremony Dec. 10
