Nobel laureate John Jumper returns to UChicago to discuss the AlphaFold protein revolution

Kent Hall buzzed with anticipation as a standing-room-only crowd of University of Chicago scientists and students eagerly awaited a talk by UChicago alum John Jumper, who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. 

The event was also a homecoming for Jumper, who is renowned for his pivotal role in developing AlphaFold—an AI system that revolutionized protein structure prediction. Jumper earned his master’s degree (2012) and Ph.D. (2017) in theoretical chemistry at UChicago. 

Jumper’s lecture became a celebration of both groundbreaking scientific achievement and the nurturing environment that fostered it.

Jumper expressed deep gratitude to his UChicago mentors, Profs. Tobin Sosnick and Karl Freed, fondly recalling the intellectual rigor and camaraderie that shaped his early research. The seeds of AlphaFold’s revolutionary technology were sown by the collaborative spirit that fueled his research at UChicago, Jumper said.

"One of the great things about being in Tobin and Karl's lab—and they really had a joint lab at that point—was that they worked on experiment, they worked on theory, and they worked at the intersection," Jumper said. "Working shoulder to shoulder with experimentalists...it's a really important experience for computational scientists to do the work that causes people to do new experiments, and I couldn't think of a better place to learn it."

In the lecture, Jumper explained how the AlphaFold AI system fundamentally altered biological and biochemical research by accomplishing a once insurmountable task: accurately predicting the three-dimensional structure of proteins from their amino acid sequences. 

Unlike conventional machine learning models that rely solely on vast datasets, AlphaFold integrated biological knowledge and principles directly into its neural network architecture, Jumper said. By incorporating evolutionary information and geometric constraints, the algorithm effectively mirrored the natural processes of protein folding. This innovative approach has enabled AlphaFold to achieve remarkable accuracy and empower researchers in their experiments.

Jumper also looked to the future, discussing the growing role of AI in the life sciences and emphasizing the need for interpretable models and ethical considerations.

Since 1992, the Bloch Lecture has been held at UChicago in honor of alum Herman Bloch, SB’33, PhD’36. The annual event recognizes the achievements of chemists and chemical engineers who made outstanding contributions to science while working in industry, and promotes creative dialogue between academic and industrial researchers.

—Adapted from an article first published by the University of Chicago Chemistry Department.