- China opens $71 bn 'swap facility' to boost markets
- Asian markets track Wall St record as Hong Kong, Shanghai stabilise
- 'Denying my potential': women at Japan's top university call out gender imbalance
- China's central bank says opens up $70.6 bn in liquidity to boost market
- Youth facing unprecedented wave of violence, UN envoy warns
- 'A casino in every kitchen': Brazil's online gambling craze
- Nobel chemistry winner sees engineered proteins solving tough problems
- Discord seen as online home for renegades
- US forecasts severe solar storm starting Thursday
- Ratan Tata: Indian mogul who built a global powerhouse
- One dead as storm Kirk tears through Spain, Portugal, France
- Indian business titan Ratan Tata dead at 86
- Fed minutes highlight divisions over rate cut decision
- Steve McQueen debuts new WWII film at London festival
- Nobel winners hope protein work will spur 'incredible' breakthroughs
- What are proteins again? Nobel-winning chemistry explained
- AI steps into science limelight with Nobel wins
- Overshooting 1.5C risks 'irreversible' climate impact: study
- Demis Hassabis, from chess prodigy to Nobel-winning AI pioneer
- Global stocks diverge as Chinese shares tumble
- Time runs out in Florida to flee Hurricane Milton
- Chad issues warning ahead of more devastating floods
- Creator's death no bar to new 'Dragon Ball' products
- Chinese stocks tumble on lack of fresh stimulus
- Trio wins chemistry Nobel for protein design, prediction
- Braving war: Lebanon's 'badass' airline defies odds
- US weighs Google breakup in landmark trial
- Chinese stocks tumble on stimulus upset, Asia tracks Wall St higher
- 7-Eleven owner confirms new takeover offer from Couche-Tard
- A US climate scientist sees hurricane Helene's devastation firsthand
- Can carbon credits help close coal plants?
- Boeing suspends negotiations with striking workers
- 7-Eleven owner's shares spike on report of new buyout offer
- Your 'local everything': what 7-Eleven buyout battle means for Japan
- AI-aided research, new materials eyed for Nobel Chemistry Prize
- The US economy is solid: Why are voters gloomy?
- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning physics Nobel
- Nobel-winning physicist 'unnerved' by AI technology he helped create
- Trump secretly sent Covid tests to Putin: Bob Woodward book
- Neural networks, machine learning? Nobel-winning AI science explained
- Boeing delivers 27 MAX jets in September despite strike
- Stock markets diverge as Hong Kong sinks, oil prices fall
- US trade gap narrowest in five months as imports slip
- Stay and 'you are going to die': Florida braces for next hurricane
- Geoffrey Hinton, soft-spoken godfather of AI
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for 'foundational' AI breakthroughs
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free in 2025 after cleared of separate sex crimes
- China slaps provisional tariffs on EU brandy imports
- Duo wins Physics Nobel for key breakthroughs in AI
- German 'Maddie' suspect could be free soon after cleared of separate sex crimes
Nobel chemistry winner sees engineered proteins solving tough problems
Whether it's battling tumors or breaking down plastic, American scientist David Baker, co-recipient of this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry, has an answer: engineering proteins that don't naturally exist -- a concept once dismissed as "crazy."
Today, proteins with novel functions are flowing steadily out of his lab, with an endless list of potential applications ranging from ultra-targeted therapies to the development of new vaccines.
"Across the range of problems that we face today in medicine and health, sustainability, energy, and technology, I think the potential for protein design is enormous," Baker told AFP via video call from Seattle, hours after learning of his Nobel win alongside two other laureates.
Proteins are organic molecules that play a fundamental role in almost every function of living organisms, from muscle contraction and food digestion to neuron activation and more.
"The ones in nature evolved to solve all the problems that were faced during natural selection," explained the 62-year-old University of Washington professor.
"But humans face new problems today," added the biochemist and computational biologist.
"We're heating up the planet, so we need new solutions in ecology and sustainability. We live longer, so there's new diseases which are relevant, like Alzheimer's disease. There's new pathogens like coronavirus."
Rather than leave these problems up to evolution -- a "brutal" solution that would take a very, very long time -- "with new proteins, we can solve those problems, but in a very short time," he said.
- From fringe to mainstream -
All proteins are composed of chains of amino acids, whose sequence dictates their shape -- and ultimately their function.
For decades, scientists have tried to determine protein structures based on these amino acid sequences.
In the late 1990s, Baker made strides towards solving this problem with a computer software he developed called Rosetta.
His success prompted a shift his focus to the reverse approach: starting with a desired shape and using Rosetta to identify the corresponding amino acid sequence. This sequence can then be introduced into bacteria, which synthesize the new protein that can be harvested and studied.
In 2003, he published his breakthrough finding -- the creation of the first-ever protein not found in nature -- though it still lacked a defined function.
"Then we started trying to design proteins that actually would do useful things," Baker recalled. "And that's when people, I think, really started thinking it was crazy."
But "for the last 20 years -— and really, most recently, the last five years -— we've been able to make proteins that do all kinds of amazing things," he said. Rosetta meanwhile has been progressively improved to incorporate artificial intelligence.
"I think what's kind of funny now is that the lunatic fringe, which pretty much no one was doing, has now entered the mainstream," he added with a laugh.
- Keys that fit locks -
How do scientists decide what shape a new protein needs to achieve the desired function?
Baker gives the example of a tumor. "We know some protein that's on the surface of that tumor, and we know its shape. What we do is we design a protein that acts like a key fitting into a lock," he explained.
Another application: breaking down plastic. In this case, a protein is designed to attach itself to the plastic molecule, accompanied by chemical compounds to "cut" it.
In medicine, this technology has already been used in a Covid-19 vaccine approved in South Korea. Researchers are also exploring its potential to create new materials.
"In biology, we have tooth and bone, we have shells, which are made by proteins interacting with inorganic compounds like calcium carbonate or calcium phosphate," says Baker, envisioning proteins interacting with other compounds to create entirely new materials with unique properties.
Greenhouse gas capture, a universal flu vaccine, improved antivenom -- Baker's wish list goes on and on.
"As protein design becomes more powerful, I'm incredibly excited about all the problems that we will be able to solve."
P.Petrenko--CPN