David Baker (biochemist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
David Baker
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Baker in 2024
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| Born | October 6, 1962 Seattle, Washington, U.S.
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| Spouse(s) | Hannele Ruohola-Baker |
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| Fields | Computational biology |
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| Thesis | Reconstitution of intercompartmental protein transport in yeast extracts (1989) |
| Doctoral advisor | Randy Schekman |
| Other academic advisors | David Agard |
| Doctoral students | Richard Bonneau |
| Other notable students | Brian Kuhlman, Tanja Kortemme |
David Baker (born October 6, 1962) is an American scientist who studies biochemistry and computational biology. He is famous for creating ways to design proteins and predict their 3D shapes. Proteins are like tiny machines in our bodies that do many important jobs.
David Baker is a professor at the University of Washington. He also works with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. In 2024, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his amazing work on designing proteins using computers. He is also a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences. He leads the Institute for Protein Design at the University of Washington. He has even started many companies that use his discoveries to help people.
Contents
About David Baker
His Early Life and School
David Baker was born in Seattle, Washington, on October 6, 1962. His dad was a physicist and his mom was a geophysicist. He went to Garfield High School in Seattle.
He went to Harvard University and earned a degree in biology in 1984. Later, he studied biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his PhD in 1989. After that, he did more research at the University of California, San Francisco.
His Career Journey
In 1993, David Baker started working as a professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine. In 2000, he became an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. This is a group that supports top scientists. In 2009, he was chosen as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
His Family Life
David Baker is married to Hannele Ruohola-Baker, who is also a biochemist at the University of Washington. They have two children.
What David Baker Researches
David Baker is best known for using computers to understand and create proteins. But he also has a lab where scientists do experiments with proteins. He has written over 600 scientific papers!
Predicting Protein Shapes
His team created a computer program called the Rosetta algorithm. This program helps predict how proteins will fold into their 3D shapes. They made this program even better so it could design new proteins.
They also created a project called Rosetta@home. This lets people around the world use their home computers to help solve protein puzzles. They even made a computer game called Foldit. In this game, players try to fold proteins into the best shapes. This helps scientists learn more about how proteins work.
David Baker's group also competes in a contest called CASP. This contest challenges scientists to predict protein structures. His team uses their Rosetta program for this. More recently, his group developed an even newer program called RoseTTAFold, which uses artificial intelligence.
Designing New Proteins
David Baker's team is also very good at designing new proteins. They even designed the first artificial protein with a brand new shape, called Top7.
In 2019, David Baker gave a TED talk called "5 challenges we could solve by designing new proteins." He talked about how designing proteins could help us solve big problems.
He has also helped start several biotechnology companies. These companies use his discoveries to create new medicines and tools.
Awards and Honors
David Baker has received many awards for his important work.
- For his work on how proteins fold, he received the Overton Prize (2002), the Sackler International Prize in Biophysics (2008), the Wiley Prize (2022), and the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2022).
- For his work on designing proteins, he received the Newcomb Cleveland Prize (2004), the Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology (2004), and the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2021).
In 2024, David Baker was awarded half of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He received it for his work on designing proteins. The other half of the prize went to John M. Jumper and Demis Hassabis. They developed a program called AlphaFold that also predicts protein structures.
See also
- List of Jewish Nobel laureates
