David Baker | American Biochemist & Computational Biologist
David Baker is an American biochemist and computational biologist who developed computerized methods for the de novo (from scratch) design of proteins with entirely new functions. Baker’s work on protein structure prediction and design fueled advances in synthetic biology and in the development of novel drugs and proteins for industrial applications. He was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry (shared with English computer scientist Demis Hassabis and American researcher John M. Jumper ) for his breakthroughs in computational protein design. Education and early career Baker grew up in Seattle. As an undergraduate, he attended Harvard University, where he studied philosophy and social science until his last year, when he transitioned to biology. After earning a bachelor’s degree from Harvard in 1984, he went to the U...