Falling Walls Falling Walls Science Summit 2023

Protein Folding: Falling Walls Breakthrough Conversation with John Jumper

John Jumper, Engi Hassaan

2022 Breakthrough Conversations

In this Falling Walls Breakthrough Conversation, digital participants had the chance to engage in a live conversation with John Jumper, Falling Walls Breakthrough of the Year 2022 in the category of Engineering and Technology. He discussed the Artificial Intelligence protein folding system AlphaFold which he developed together with his team at DeepMind and addresses the practical implications of their research as well as the skepticism towards AI systems.

The interview series provided an intimate personal atmosphere, in which high-level guests, speakers and panelists of the Falling Walls Science Summit 2022 talked about their individual research, career paths and experiences.

The Falling Walls Breakthrough Conversations are supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and Springer Nature.

John Jumper

DeepMind

John Jumper received his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Chicago, where he developed machine learning methods to simulate protein dynamics. Prior to that, he worked at D.E. Shaw Research on molecular dynamics simulations of protein dynamics and supercooled liquids. He also holds an MPhil in Physics from the University of Cambridge and a B.S. in Physics and Mathematics from Vanderbilt University. At DeepMind, John is leading the development of new methods to apply machine learning to protein biology.

Engi Hassaan

Springer Nature

Engi Hassaan is an associate editor at Nature Communications handling submissions in structural biology, biophysics, and biochemistry. She earned her PhD at Phillips University in Marburg, focusing on comparative analysis of fragment binding to protein using X-ray Crystallography, SPR, and NMR. During her PhD she also worked at the Helmholtz Zentrum in Munich, AstraZeneca Gothenburg, and ETH Zurich. Prior to her PhD she worked at Procter & Gamble and Nawah Scientific. She studied Pharmacy and Biotechnology at the German University in Cairo, where she obtained her masters degree in Drug Design.

Further Activities to have a look at