UW Medicine professor awarded Nobel Prize in chemistry [Video]

SEATTLE — A professor of biochemistry at the University of Washington School of Medicine has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. 

Professor David Baker won the prize for his work on computational protein design. 

At a press conference on Wednesday, Baker described proteins as “miniature machines that carry out all the important jobs in our bodies and all living things.” Before his work, the only proteins scientists knew about were ones that occurred naturally. Baker was awarded for his work designing and creating brand-new proteins that don’t exist in nature, with the potential to be used to address a wide array of issues facing people and the environment. 

“The idea that you could make new (proteins) was kind of a crazy idea,” Baker said. “Because proteins solve all the problems that living things have to deal …