David Baker wants to understand the fundamental principles underlying protein structure and function, and to apply those principles to create computer-designed proteins to address challenges in health and technology. Baker and his team do not re-engineer native proteins; instead, they iterate between computation and experiment, working to continually improve their design methodology. Current projects include, among others, designing molecular switches, enzymes, and motors; designing delivery vehicles for targeted intracellular delivery of biologics; and developing methods to design high-affinity binders to small molecule and protein targets.
HHMI Investigator who developed groundbreaking gene-editing technologies among eight honored for transformative advances in the life sciences. Baker, of the University of Washington School of Medicine, was among three scientists honored by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for his work on computational protein design. He shares the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper of Google DeepMind for protein structure prediction. HHMI is known for our “people, not projects” philosophy. In this newly launched video series, we’re shining the spotlight on several of our scientists to share their stories and offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse at what makes their work – and their labs – unique. Using a free computer game called Foldit, researchers are enlisting the help of citizen scientists to design drugs that could stop the novel coronavirus from infecting human cells. Using novel computational and biochemical approaches, HHMI scientists have designed and built from scratch 10 large protein icosahedra that are similar to viral capsids that carry viral DNA. A cooperative online game has attracted 50,000 players whose “distributed thinking” has, in some cases, proven more powerful than computers in predicting the structure of proteins. Eight HHMI scientists and one HHMI scientific review board member are among 210 fellows and 19 foreign honorary members elected. HHMI researchers bring the arcane world of protein folding to the online gaming arena with the launch of “Foldit.” Researchers have designed and built two functional enzymes never seen in nature. A worldwide network of more than 150,000 home computer users helped HHMI researchers predict the structure of a small, naturally occurring protein. Researchers have demonstrated how tens of thousands of closely related proteins establish the specificity that allows them to serve as identification tags for individual neurons. Computers can predict the detailed structure of small proteins nearly as well as experimental methods, at least some of the time. Computers can predict the detailed structure of small proteins nearly as well as experimental methods, at least some of the time, according to new studies by HHMI researchers. The findings provide a glimmer of hope that scientists eventually may be able to determine the structure of proteins from their genomic sequences, a problem that has seemed insurmountable. HHMI researchers develop computer program that engineers a protein to fold 100-times faster than normal. A computational method developed by HHMI investigators predicts the three-dimensional structure of proteins with surprising accuracy.