NEWS RELEASE

Department of Defense
United States Army Medical Research and Development Command
Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs

Released: October 16, 2024

David Baker, Ph.D., Awarded 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

David Baker, Ph.D., a multiple awardee of the CDMRP, was one of three scientists awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work in computational protein design and structure prediction.

FORT DETRICK, Md. – On October 9, 2024, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded David Baker, Ph.D., a multiple awardee of the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, the 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his work in computational protein design.

Baker shares this honor with co-awardees, Demis Hassabis, Ph.D., and John M. Jumper, Ph.D., who also received the award for their work on computational protein structure prediction. This field uses machine learning to improve how we understand what protein molecules look like and what they do.

“The CDMRP expresses our sincere congratulations to Dr. David Baker,” Col. Mark Hartell, the CDMRP director, said. “The programs at CDMRP proudly support research that yields high-impact advancements. Baker’s advancements in computational chemistry impacts multiple clinical fields by forging new approaches in machine-learning and biomedicine.”

Previous work completed by 1972 Nobel Laureate Christian Anfinsen, Ph.D., identified that the sequence of amino acids determines the three-dimensional structure and biologically active form of a protein. This finding led to the basic understanding that proteins could be synthesized in the laboratory by joining the proper amino acids in the correct order and then allowing the chain of amino acids to fold spontaneously. Understanding the synthesis of proteins led to increased knowledge of normal life processes and many diseases.

For more than two decades, Baker’s lab worked to improve the understanding of protein structures by developing freely available computational tools to enable scientists to design new proteins with entirely novel shapes and functions. Without the use of this type of software, it could take a team of scientists several years to determine the structure of just one protein. The 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry recognizes Baker’s work in protein design and the synthetic proteins he and his team generated.

In FY03, the CDMRP’s Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Research Program awarded Baker and his team from the University of Washington an Exploration-Hypothesis Development Award to use his Rosetta platform to investigate the drug-resistant form of chronic myelogenous leukemia. With this award, Baker’s team developed a novel computational method and proteins, engineered in the laboratory, to stop unregulated protein proliferation resulting in cancer.

In FY04, the CDMRP’s Prostate Cancer Research Program awarded Baker and his team an Exploration-Hypothesis Development Award to investigate computationally designed proteins as therapeutics for hormone resistant prostate cancer.

Since 2008, six former CDMRP award recipients, including Baker, received the Nobel Prize for their achievements in chemistry and physiology and medicine.

For more information about the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, please visit the website at https://cdmrp.health.mil.

Point of Contact:

Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs Public Affairs
301-619-7783
usarmy.detrick.medcom-cdmrp.mbx.cdmrp-public-affairs@health.mil

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