This year, we can say that the Nobel Prizes were actually given to artificial intelligence in both chemistry and physics. The prize in physics in particular had nothing to do with physicists. An artificial intelligence expert who used certain calculation methods of physics won the prize there. On the chemistry side, an artificial intelligence project that correctly predicted how the protein that constitutes the essence of life folds won the prize. More precisely, those who developed that project, those who found the calculation technique for that project. I look at this issue from an investment perspective and I have had an investment in how protein folds for a long time. It is an investment that did not go very well. That is why the Nobel Prize caught my attention even more today. Now, I will tell you why solving protein folding is so important and what role artificial intelligence played in this. Then, I will talk a little about the investment opportunities it opens up for us. Because I believe that when we solve everything about how protein folds, life will never be the same again.

Let me start with what is protein. Protein is the basic building block of life, they manage almost everything that happens in our bodies. They repair tissues, send signals, fight infections, grow our hair, make us lose our hair, cause Alzheimer's, everything is related to proteins. When proteins fold correctly, they do beautiful things. When they don't fold correctly, they do the wrong thing, they can cause diseases. What does this mean? You can think of a protein as layers of paper folded on top of each other, and if there are errors in this folding, they can cause problems such as not being able to perform their functions. These misfolded proteins are also dangerous for our bodies, and if we can't get rid of them, they can even pave the way for very serious diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. That's why understanding the folding process is vital. But scientists have never been able to fully understand this process.

We know that there are over 200 million proteins. With years of work, we have only been able to figure out how 170,000 proteins fold. This is where artificial intelligence comes into play. That's why this year's Nobel Prize was awarded to David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper. First of all, if we start with David Baker, he is a person who focuses on designing new proteins. He is trying to develop new computational tools for this. Proteins that do not exist in nature, proteins that fight a disease, proteins that will make us younger, proteins that will change the taste of a product, he is dealing with these. Therefore, David Baker's work seems very important for fighting diseases, fighting aging, and maybe even solving environmental problems. The other two Nobel Prize winners, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, have developed the artificial intelligence necessary for this work. Alpha Fold 2 is actually Google's Deep Mind initiative.

Google had bought Deep Mind years ago. There, they developed Alpha Fold 2 and received the Nobel from it. In the meantime, Alpha Fold 3 was recently announced. I may write an article about it in the future, and thanks to this artificial intelligence they developed, they have now been able to predict the fundamental problem that scientists have been dealing with for over 50 years, how proteins fold correctly, how they fold incorrectly, how we will solve this issue, and they have been able to suggest what needs to be done for correct folding. Folding is basically proteins that are actually long chains of amino acids. These chains are the building blocks of proteins. How these chains fold into a three-dimensional structure. This determines the function of the protein and each of these amino acids has a different function. Their relationships with each other are different and how they fold together defines the function of that protein. Alpha Fold helps us understand this folding process. In this way, it seems that it can help us both find misfolded proteins and discover brand new proteins that are correctly folded. This is an initiative that will radically change medicine.

There is a company that I am an investor in called Quantum SI. Unfortunately, it is an investment that did not go very well. They are trying to develop a device and they claim that this device will solve the folding of proteins very quickly and economically and sequence new proteins. They have not been very successful so far. The device is called Platinium and they have been working on this for a long time. There is artificial intelligence behind it again, there is a device, there is data and they say that if we can do this, discovering new proteins will become very economical and fast. They also have interesting projects. For example, in one project, they gave non-alcoholic beer the taste of alcoholic beer. They are also doing some experiments like this and their aim is to change the world by designing brand new proteins. So how does protein sequencing work? As you know, DNA sequencing shows the order of base pairs in our genes. Protein sequencing shows the order of amino acids in proteins. Knowing this order helps scientists understand how proteins fold and how they perform their functions. They are trying to do this in Quantum SI and Alpha Fold and while doing this, they are using artificial intelligence and great processing power. Because unfortunately our past technologies, past computers and human brains are not enough for this. If these technologies work, precision medicines will develop. In other words, when we solve this with drugs focused on a specific task, for example, we will be able to design proteins specific to you in cancer treatment. In this way, the damage caused by typical chemotherapy will not be caused. Also, the recovery will be fast and some of them may even be special to you.

But protein engineering, in other words, designing new proteins, does not only play a role in health. For example, it can break down plastic waste or develop proteins that capture carbon. In this way, we can make significant progress in the fight against climate or maybe develop new types of fuel. We can develop new plants. Thanks to these plants, we can also solve the problem of hunger in the world. As a result, proteins are like the machines of life. Thanks to these people who won the Nobel Prize in 2024, we can now design them. I think artificial intelligence-supported innovations will change life a lot in the coming days. We are faced with a very concrete example here. On the other hand, other companies are also working on protein engineering. For example, there is Regenerant Pharmaceuticals. They are developing protein-based therapies, a biotechnology company, trying to defeat cancer.

There is Amgen, which is also a technology company traded on Nasdaq. They are developing biological drugs for cancer and cardiovascular diseases and doing protein engineering. There is Biogen. They are also focused on neurological disorders. They are trying to develop protein-based drugs, especially for diseases such as Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis. Moderna teaches cells to produce proteins with its technology and thus provides an immune response. This was the basis of the Covid-19 vaccine. As you know, it was met with many conspiracy theories. There are other companies, but I wanted to give you such a short list. It is an area where very broad investment opportunities arise. On the other hand, developments in this area show us that we are still at the beginning of the artificial intelligence game.

There will be more demand for companies like Nvidia, Qualcomm, Broadcom, AMD. We need much greater processing power in mainframes, data centers, mobile phones, everywhere, only then will all of this be possible. I also see from here that the artificial intelligence industry has a long way to go. Imagine how something that will change the health sector so radically will affect the world. One of the biggest spending items in the world is health spending, and it is possible to change this radically. Let me finish by stating that it is very difficult to invest in biotechnology companies. Because the products developed by these companies have the power to radically change human life. For this reason, it is very difficult to get approval from the necessary authorities. They are also the subject of moral and philosophical discussions. Because if we change the protein that forms the basis of life, we do not know exactly what kind of world we will be heading towards.

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