Two VinFuture Prize Winners Receive 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

On the afternoon of October 9, 2023 (Vietnam time), Dr. Demis Hassabis (UK) and Dr. John Jumper (USA) - co-winners of the VinFuture Special Prize for Scientists researching new fields 2022 - were awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for creating an AI model to predict protein structure.

Sharing the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Dr. Hassabis and Dr. Jumper was Professor David Baker (USA) for his protein design algorithm.

Dr. Hassabis and Dr. Jumper announced their AI model, AlphaFold2, in 2020. With the help of this model, they were able to predict the structures of nearly 200 million proteins previously identified by scientists. Since then, AlphaFold2 has been used by more than two million people in 190 countries. AlphaFold2 has enabled many scientific applications, allowing researchers to learn more about antibiotic resistance and create images of enzymes that can break down plastic.

Mr. Heiner Linke, Chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said that the AlphaFold2 model developed by Dr. Hassabis and Dr. Jumper has realized a dream of 50 years in this field.

Previously, in 2022, when the VinFuture Special Prize for Scientists researching new fields was awarded to these two scientists, the VinFuture Prize Council assessed that the pioneering work on the AlphaFold 2 protein decoding artificial intelligence system had revolutionized protein structure modeling, promoting breakthrough developments in the fields of biomedicine, medicine and agriculture .

AlphaFold 2 reduces the processing time from several years to just a few days, even a few minutes, accelerating the progress of solving important problems in life. The work has also provided a database of structures of more than 200 million proteins as a research resource for thousands of other scientists around the world .

This is not the first time that VinFuture Prize winners have been honored with prestigious international awards for their inventions that have had a huge positive impact on humanity. Last year, the first two VinFuture Prize winners, Dr. Katalin Karikó and Prof. Drew Weissman, were also awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work on nucleoside modifications, which helped develop an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19.

The fact that VinFuture Prize-winning scientists are increasingly honored in prestigious international awards has affirmed the effectiveness of the VinFuture Prize's nomination selection process, and demonstrated to the world the stature and vision of the VinFuture Prize Council. Thereby affirming the important role of VinFuture in evaluating and promoting research in the field of global Science and Technology, contributing to enhancing Vietnam's position in the world.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/hai-chu-nhan-giai-thuong-vinfuture-nhan-giai-nobel-hoa-hoc-2024-20241010082419873.htm