The Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) congratulates Demis Hassabis, John Jumper and David Baker for being awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work on protein structure prediction and computational protein design.

As early adopters of AlphaFold, DeepMind’s artificial intelligence (AI) protein structure prediction model developed by Hassabis and Jumper, DNDi teams and partners have used the game-changing technology to find innovative ways to accelerate drug discovery for Chagas disease and leishmaniasis.

Charles Mowbray, Head of Discovery at DNDi, offered the following statement:

‘This week, we celebrate the Nobel prizes for physics, medicine, and chemistry – all areas of direct importance to our mission: finding new treatments for millions of people facing neglected diseases for which treatments are ineffective, unsafe, unaffordable, or simply never developed at all.

First, we see the impact of artificial intelligence and machine learning everywhere in our daily lives – and already in some of our research and development programmes.

Second, understanding the role of micro-RNA in cellular processes and disease will help the scientific community to develop innovative treatments.

Third, the ability to design and predict the structures of proteins is a powerful, democratizing advance that can accelerate the development of new diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines for infectious diseases. 

We congratulate the pioneers in these fields, and we are grateful to partners who join us to bring the benefits of these advances to neglected patients.’

Photo credit: DeepMind