Nobel Prize in chemistry honors 3 scientists who used AI to design proteins, life's building blocks

LONDON (AP) — Three scientists who discovered powerful techniques to predict and even design novel proteins — the building blocks of life — were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday. Their work used advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, and holds the potential to transform how new drugs are made.

The prize was awarded to David Baker, a biochemist at the University of Washington in Seattle, and to Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, computer scientists at Google DeepMind, a British-American artificial intelligence research laboratory based in London.

Heiner Linke, chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said the award honored research that unraveled “a grand challenge in chemistry, and in particular in biochemistry, for decades.”

"It’s that breakthrough that gets awarded today,” he said.

Proteins are complex molecules with thousands of atoms that twist, turn, loop and spiral in a countless array of shapes that determine their biological function. For decades, scientists have dreamed of being able to efficiently design and build new proteins.

Baker, 62, whose work has received funding from the National Institutes of Health since the 1990s, created a computer program called Rosetta that helped analyze information about existing proteins in comprehensive databases to build new proteins that don't exist in nature.

"It seems that you can almost construct any type of protein now with this technology,” said Johan Åqvist of the Nobel committee.

Hassabis, 48, and Jumper, 39, created an artificial intelligence model that has predicted the structure of virtually all the 200 million proteins that researchers have identified, the committee added.

The duo "managed to crack the code. With skillful use of artificial intelligence, they made it possible to predict the complex structure of essentially any known protein in nature,” Linke said.

The ability to custom design new proteins — and better understand existing proteins — could enable researchers to create new kinds of medicines and vaccines. It could also allow scientists to design new enzymes to break down plastics or other waste materials, and to design fine-tuned sensors for hazardous materials.

“I think there’s fantastic prospects for making better medicines — medicines that are smarter, that only work in the right time and place in the body,” Baker told The Associated Press.

One example is a potential nasal spray that could slow or stop the rapid spread of specific viruses, such as COVID-19, he said. Another is a medicine to disrupt the cascade of symptoms known as cytokine storm.

“That was always the holy grail. If you could figure out how protein sequences folded into their particular structures, then it might be possible to design protein sequences to fold into previously never seen structures that might be useful for us,” said Jon Lorsch, a director at the NIH.

Baker told the AP he found out he won the Nobel during the early hours of the morning alongside his wife, who immediately started screaming.

“So it was a little deafening, too,” he said.

In an online news briefing, Hassabis said the Nobel was “an unbelievable honor of a lifetime."

One of Britain’s leading tech figures, he co-founded the AI research lab DeepMind in 2010, which was acquired by Google in 2014. DeepMind’s past breakthroughs include developing an AI system that mastered the Chinese game of Go and was able to defeat the game’s human world champion.

Hassabis said he was just having a “normal morning” at home when he eventually got the call. The Nobel committee didn’t initially have his number and first managed to get hold of his wife, but she hung up on them a few times.

“It’s so incredible. It’s so unreal at this moment," said Jumper, a researcher and director at Google DeepMind. "And it’s wonderful.”

In the past researchers labored for months or years to decode the structure of a single complex protein.

But the AI model created by the DeepMind researchers, called AlphaFold, “can determine the structure of a protein pretty accurately within a few seconds or minutes,” Hassabis told the AP in an interview, adding that this saves researchers “years of potentially painstaking experimental work.”

The two research groups learned from each other's work.

Baker said Hassabis and Jumper’s artificial intelligence work gave his team a huge boost.

“The breakthroughs made by Demis and John on protein structure prediction really highlighted to us the power that AI could have," said Baker. “And that led us to apply these AI methods to protein design.”

Science has sped up, said Jumper. “It is a key demonstration that AI will make science faster "

It’s the second Nobel prize this year awarded to someone with links to artificial intelligence research at Google.

Yesterday's Nobel physics prize winner Geoffrey Hinton, often called the “godfather of AI,” also previously worked at the tech company, but later quit so he could speak more openly about the potential downsides of AI.

“I’m hoping AI will lead to tremendous benefits,” Hinton told a virtual press conference Tuesday. “I’m convinced that it will do that in health care."

"My worry is that it may also lead to bad things. And in particular, when we get things more intelligent than ourselves, no one really knows whether we’re going to be able to control them.”

Baker gets half of the prize money of 11 million Swedish Kronor ($1 million) while Hassabis and Jumper share the other half.

Six days of Nobel announcements opened Monday with Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun winning the medicine prize. Two founding fathers of machine learning — Hinton and John Hopfield — won the physics prize.

The awards continue with the literature prize on Thursday. The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced Friday and the economics award on Oct. 14.

The prize money comes from a bequest left by the award’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. The laureates are invited to receive their awards at ceremonies on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.

Larson reported from Washington, D.C, and Valdes from Seattle. AP reporters Matt O'Brien in Providence, Rhode Island; Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, and Daniel Niemann in Stockholm contributed.

University of Washington president Ana Mari Cauce hugs American biochemist David Baker, 2024 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, during news conference at the university on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

American biochemist David Baker, 2024 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, listens during a press conference at the University of Washington on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Hannele Ruohola-Baker hugs her husband American biochemist David Baker, 2024 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, at the University of Washington on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Seattle. Lynda Stuart, executive director at the Institute for Protein Design, looks on at right. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

American biochemist David Baker, 2024 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry, holds a model of a designed protein nanoparticle during a tour at the University of Washington on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Researcher John Jumper, left, and Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind Technologies, the AI division behind Gemini, speak to Associated Press at the Google DeepMind offices in London, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024 after being awarded with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Researcher John Jumper poses for a photo at the Google DeepMind offices in London, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024 after being awarded with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind Technologies, the AI division behind Gemini, poses for a photo at the Google DeepMind offices in London, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024 after being awarded with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

American biochemist David Baker poses for a photo at his home on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Researcher John Jumper, left, and Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind Technologies, the AI division behind Gemini, speak to Associated Press at the Google DeepMind offices in London, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024 after being awarded with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

American biochemist David Baker speaks to reporters at his home, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Seattle. (Ian C Haydon via AP)

American biochemist David Baker, 2024 Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry speaks on the phone with the two other winners Demis Hassabis and John Jumper at his home, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Seattle. (Ian C Haydon via AP)

This combo of pictures show American biochemist David Baker, from left, American researcher John Jumper and Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind Technologies, the AI division behind Gemini. (UW Medicine/Google DeepMind via AP/AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

View at the Google DeepMind office building in London, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. Demis Hassabis and John Jumper were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their breakthrough work predicting and designing the structure of proteins, the building blocks of life. Hassabis and Jumper both work at Google Deepmind in London. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

Johan Åqvist, right, member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, explains the work of David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John M Jumper, winners of this years Nobel Prize in Chemistry at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in Stockholm, Sweden, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)

Johan Åqvist, member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, Hans Ellegren, Permanent Secretary and Heiner Linke, Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry award this years Nobel Prize in Chemistry to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John Jumper at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in Stockholm, Sweden, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)

Johan Åqvist, member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, Hans Ellegren, Permanent Secretary and Heiner Linke, Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry award this years Nobel Prize in Chemistry to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John M Jumper at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in Stockholm, Sweden, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)

Johan Åqvist, member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, Hans Ellegren, Permanent Secretary and Heiner Linke, Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry award this years Nobel Prize in Chemistry to David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John M Jumper at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, in Stockholm, Sweden, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (Christine Olsson/TT News Agency via AP)

FILE - Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind Technologies and developer of AlphaGO, attendsthe UK Artificial Intelligence (AI) Safety Summit, at Bletchley Park, in Bletchley, England, Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023. (Toby Melville/Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis answers a reporter's question during a press conference in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, March 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

FILE - Demis Hassabis, CEO of DeepMind Technologies, speaks at a Google I/O event in Mountain View, Calif., Tuesday, May 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

FILE - A Nobel Prize medal is displayed before a ceremony at the Swedish Ambassador's Residence in London, Monday, Dec. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)

FILE - A close-up view of a Nobel Prize medal at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

The Nobel prize in chemistry is being awarded in Stockholm

The Nobel prize in chemistry is being awarded in Stockholm

FILE - A bust of Alfred Nobel on display following a press conference at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency via AP, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a government shutdown deadline, the Senate rushed through final passage early Saturday of a bipartisan plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, dropping President-elect Donald Trump's demands for a debt limit increase into the new year.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had insisted Congress would “meet our obligations” and not allow federal operations to shutter ahead of the Christmas holiday season. But the day's outcome was uncertain after Trump doubled down on his insistence that a debt ceiling increase be included in any deal — if not, he said in an early morning post, let the closures “start now.”

The House approved Johnson's new bill overwhelmingly, 366-34. The Senate worked into the night to pass it, 85-11, just after the deadline. At midnight, the White House said it had ceased shutdown preparations.

“This is a good outcome for the country, ” Johnson said after the House vote, adding he had spoken with Trump and the president-elect “was certainly happy about this outcome, as well.”

President Joe Biden, who has played a less public role in the process throughout a turbulent week, was expected to sign the measure into law Saturday.

“There will be no government shutdown," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

The final product was the third attempt from Johnson, the beleaguered House speaker, to achieve one of the basic requirements of the federal government — keeping it open. And it raised stark questions about whether Johnson will be able to keep his job, in the face of angry GOP colleagues, and work alongside Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk, who called the legislative plays from afar.

Trump's last-minute demand was almost an impossible ask, and Johnson had almost no choice but to work around his pressure for a debt ceiling increase. The speaker knew there wouldn’t be enough support within the GOP majority to pass any funding package, since many Republican deficit hawks prefer to slash the federal government and certainly wouldn’t allow more debt.

Instead, the Republicans, who will have full control of the White House, House and Senate next year, with big plans for tax cuts and other priorities, are showing they must routinely rely on Democrats for the votes needed to keep up with the routine operations of governing.

“So is this a Republican bill or a Democrat bill?” scoffed Musk on social media ahead of the vote.

The drastically slimmed-down 118-page package would fund the government at current levels through March 14 and add $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers.

Gone is Trump’s demand to lift the debt ceiling, which GOP leaders told lawmakers would be debated as part of their tax and border packages in the new year. Republicans made a so-called handshake agreement to raise the debt limit at that time while also cutting $2.5 trillion in spending over 10 years.

It’s essentially the same deal that flopped the night before in a spectacular setback — opposed by most Democrats and some of the most conservative Republicans — minus Trump’s debt ceiling demand.

But it's far smaller than the original bipartisan accord Johnson struck with Democratic and Republican leaders — a 1,500-page bill that Trump and Musk rejected, forcing him to start over. It was stuffed with a long list of other bills — including much-derided pay raises for lawmakers — but also other measures with broad bipartisan support that now have a tougher path to becoming law.

House Democrats were cool to the latest effort after Johnson reneged on the hard-fought bipartisan compromise.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said it looked like Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, was calling the shots for Trump and Republicans.

“Who is in charge?” she asked during the debate.

Still, the House Democrats put up more votes than Republicans for the bill's passage. Almost three dozen conservative House Republicans voted against it.

“The House Democrats have successfully stopped extreme MAGA Republicans from shutting down the government, crashing the economy and hurting working-class Americans all across the nation,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, referring to Trump's “Make America Great Again” slogan.

In the Senate, almost all the opposition came from the Republicans — except independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who said Musk's interference was “not democracy, that's oligarchy.”

Trump, who has not yet been sworn into office, is showing the power but also the limits of his sway with Congress, as he intervenes and orchestrates affairs from Mar-a-Lago alongside Musk, who is heading up the new Department of Government Efficiency.

The incoming Trump administration vows to slash the federal budget and fire thousands of employees and is counting on Republicans for a big tax package. And Trump's not fearful of shutdowns the way lawmakers are, having sparked the longest government shutdown in history in his first term at the White House.

“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now,” Trump posted early in the morning on social media.

More important for the president-elect was his demand for pushing the thorny debt ceiling debate off the table before he returns to the White House. The federal debt limit expires Jan. 1, and Trump doesn't want the first months of his new administration saddled with tough negotiations in Congress to lift the nation's borrowing capacity. Now Johnson will be on the hook to deliver.

“Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling,” Trump posted — increasing his demand for a new five-year debt limit increase. "Without this, we should never make a deal."

Government workers had already been told to prepare for a federal shutdown that would send millions of employees — and members of the military — into the holiday season without paychecks.

Biden has been in discussions with Jeffries and Schumer, but White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “Republicans blew up this deal. They did, and they need to fix this.”

As the day dragged on, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell stepped in to remind colleagues “how harmful it is to shut the government down, and how foolish it is to bet your own side won’t take the blame for it.”

At one point, Johnson asked House Republicans at a lunchtime meeting for a show of hands as they tried to choose the path forward.

It wasn’t just the shutdown, but the speaker’s job on the line. The speaker’s election is the first vote of the new Congress, which convenes Jan. 3, and some Trump allies have floated Musk for speaker.

Johnson said he spoke to Musk ahead of the vote Friday and they talked about the “extraordinary challenges of this job.”

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Mary Clare Jalonick, Darlene Superville and Bill Barrow contributed to this report.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., celebrates as the Senate begins voting on the government funding bill just in time to meet the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., celebrates as the Senate begins voting on the government funding bill just in time to meet the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters after passing the funding bill to avert the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters after passing the funding bill to avert the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The Capitol is pictured in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., emerges from a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., emerges from a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., talks with reporters after attending a meeting with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., as the House works on a spending bill to avert a shutdown of the Federal Government, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

FILE - President-elect Donald Trump poses for a photo with Dana White, Kid Rock and Elon Musk at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, Nov. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks briefly to reporters just before a vote on an interim spending bill to prevent a government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. The vote failed to pass. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)