David Baker

Professor David Baker is the director of the Institute for Protein Design, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, a professor of biochemistry, and an adjunct professor of genome sciences, bioengineering, chemical engineering, computer science, and physics at the University of Washington. His research group is focused on the design of macromolecular structures and functions. He has published more than 600 research papers, been granted over 100 patents, and co-founded 21 companies. Over 80 of his mentees have gone on to independent faculty positions.

For his work in “computational protein design”, Prof Baker shared 2024’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry with two other winners.

He received his PhD in biochemistry with Randy Schekman at UC Berkeley and did postdoctoral work in biophysics with David Agard at UCSF. He is also a recipient of the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, and a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.