Chemistry summit in Lindau: Nobel Prize winners and young talents united!

Chemistry summit in Lindau: Nobel Prize winners and young talents united!

On July 8, 2025, an important chemistry summit took place in Lindau, attended by more than 30 Nobel Prize winners and around 600 young scientists from all over the world. This event, which ran from July 4th to this date, offers young researchers an excellent platform to get in touch with leading scientists and form valuable networks. Dr. Aleksandar Zivkovic from the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry at CAU emphasizes that exchanging ideas with renowned researchers is a privilege.

Zivkovic specializes in the development of computer models that are used to simulate and improve materials with specific chemical and physical properties. Another participant, Sourjya Mal from the Otto Diels Institute for Organic Chemistry at CAU, is researching new methods for modifying carbon-hydrogen compounds. Particularly gratifying for Mal was the opportunity to speak with one of the future Nobel Prize winners in chemistry, John Jumper.

Intensely competitive participation

The opportunity to take part in this important meeting is extremely competitive: each university is only allowed to nominate two people. Prof. Dr. Manuel von Gemmeren emphasizes the great importance of these invitations for the CAU and its youth sector. Among those invited is Meike Rudolph, who works on the integration of disadvantaged groups into the labor market. Her research has shown that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought positive changes for women in the labor market and she expects the conference to provide additional impetus for their careers.

In the context of the chemical research landscape, the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John M. Jumper. The award was given for their crucial contributions to the analysis of the structure and function of proteins using artificial intelligence. These discoveries enable the synthetic creation of new proteins, which were used, for example, to discover the corona virus. Proteins, which are considered the building blocks of life, take on essential functions in our cells, from energy supply to signal transmission.

The role of artificial intelligence

Baker developed the computer program “Rosetta,” which created the first artificial protein in 2003. Baker and his team also created a biosensor that glows when it comes into contact with Sars-CoV-2. In addition, Demis Hassabis solved the puzzle of protein folding with his AI program “Alphafold”. Alphafold set a record in the CASP protein structure prediction challenge in 2018. The second version of Alphafold, released in 2020, outperformed all previous programs. However, there is criticism because the latest version, Alphafold 3, is no longer publicly available, which could hinder research in this area.

With regard to scientific developments, it is important to mention that around 200 million proteins are known to date, the structure and folding of which remained mysterious for a long time. The connection between the amino acid sequence and the three-dimensional structure of a protein, which is crucial for its function, was crucially elucidated by the work of Baker, Hassabis and Jumper. This research is key to the existing challenges in protein design, which has been revolutionized in recent decades by the use of computers. The 2024 Nobel Prize winners have made significant progress in clarifying the relationship between the amino acid sequence and the desired protein structure, marking a turning point in chemical research.

The chemistry conference in Lindau will not only serve as a platform for the exchange of ideas and developments in chemistry, but also as a bridge between the future and the current generation of scientists, made possible by the research findings of the Nobel Prize winners.