Artificial Intelligence (AI) dominates this year’s Nobel Prize. The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three scientists: David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John M. Jumper. Prof Baker developed a revolutionary computational platform for predicting and designing protein structures, while AlphaFold, jointly created by Hassabis and Jumper, is an AI system that predicts the 3D structure of proteins from their amino acid sequence. Their innovations have significantly improved the success rate of research and development for new drugs and vaccines and increased the potential for producing enzymes involved in photosynthesis, which could help sustain the environment.
The Science Media Center Taiwan held a conference on October 9th to provide the public with the insights into the contributions of this year’s Nobel Prize winners. Dr Wu Kun-Feng of Academia Sinica noted that researchers have been trying to solve the problem of protein folding for over half a century. In 2003, Prof Baker created Rosetta, which led to the development of the world’s first artificial enzyme with a DNA sequence that had never existed before. His invention shortens drug experimenting time and improves the success rate of drug development.
Dr Huang Jie-Rong of NYCU explained that, building on Baker’s research, Hassabis and Jumper developed an AI model called AlphaFold, which predicts the structure of proteins based on their chemical sequence and has the potential to accelerate scientific discovery.
Prof Yang Tzu-Hsiung of NTHU added that while ChatGPT applies machine learning to generate human language, AlphaFold uses machine learning to predict the 3D structure of proteins. By 2020, AlphaFold2 had already achieved an accuracy rate of 90%.
Prof Hsu Shang-Te of Academia Sinica expressed that using AI to predict and generate protein structures will lead to discoveries in CAR-T therapies. This technology can also accelerate vaccine development by bypassing many natural evolutionary steps. He also mentioned research on enzymes involved in photosynthesis, which could replace solar panels and help sustain the environment. However, he emphasized the importance of regulating this new technology to ensure it is used safely.
【2024-10-09 / Liberty Times】
