David Baker (biochemist)

David Baker
Baker in 2024
Born (1962-10-06) October 6, 1962
Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Alma mater
Known for
SpouseHannele Ruohola-Baker
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsComputational biology
Institutions
ThesisReconstitution of intercompartmental protein transport in yeast extracts (1989)
Doctoral advisorRandy Schekman
Other academic advisorsDavid Agard
Doctoral studentsRichard Bonneau
Other notable studentsBrian Kuhlman, Tanja Kortemme
Websitewww.bakerlab.org

David Baker (born October 6, 1962) is an American biochemist and computational biologist who has pioneered methods to design proteins and predict their three-dimensional structures. He is the Henrietta and Aubrey Davis Endowed Professor in Biochemistry, an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and an adjunct professor of genome sciences, bioengineering, chemical engineering, computer science, and physics at the University of Washington. He was awarded the shared 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on computational protein design.

Baker is a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences and the director of the University of Washington's Institute for Protein Design. He has co-founded more than a dozen biotechnology companies and was included in Time magazine's inaugural list of the 100 Most Influential People in health in 2024.