Nobel Prize for TUM Distinguished Affiliated Professor

10/9/2024
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David Baker, professor at the University of Washington in Seattle, is to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The biochemist has been a Distinguished Affiliated Professor at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) since 2017. He receives the prize for his work in the field of computational protein design.

David Baker at TUM — Nobel laureate Prof. David Baker is a Distinguished Affiliated Professor at TUM.

Proteins consist of 20 different amino acids, which form complex structures and can be described as the building blocks of life. In 2003, David Baker succeeded in using these blocks to design a new protein that was unlike any other protein. Since then, his research group has produced one imaginative protein creation after another, including proteins that can be used as pharmaceuticals, vaccines, nanomaterials and tiny sensors, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which is awarding the prize. “Life could not exist without proteins. That we can now predict protein structures and design our own proteins confers the greatest benefit to humankind.”

In 2017, TUM appointed David Baker as Distinguished Affiliated Professor. TUM awards this honorary title to internationally outstanding scientists who have worked with TUM researchers for many years. The Distinguished Affiliated Professors also become fellows of the TUM Institute for Advanced Study.

"David Baker's scientific work is groundbreaking and has given an incredible boost to modern protein research," says TUM President Prof. Thomas F. Hofmann. "He has paved the way for the invention of completely new proteins that can fulfill previously unimaginable functions. We are proud that he is a member of our faculty."

Further information and links

Technical University of Munich

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