At the UW Medicine Institute for Protein Design (IPD), scientists are creating new proteins to solve a wide range of challenges in medicine, technology and sustainability.
Thanks to a unique collaboration — the visionary leadership of director David Baker, PhD, and the transformative support of Bruce and Jennie Nordstrom — the IPD’s discoveries are on a fast track to worldwide impact. Now, the Nordstroms’ generous support of the IPD is being honored with a 2024 Brotman Leadership Award.
The Brotman Leadership Award recognizes those whose visionary philanthropic leadership significantly impacts UW Medicine’s ability to carry out its mission of improving public health.
“Dr. Baker and his colleagues are the world’s experts in protein design, and we wanted to give them the flexibility to follow their inspiration,” says Bruce Nordstrom.
Founded in 2012, the IPD is a global leader in science with a dual commitment to generating knowledge and achieving impact through protein design. They are redefining what is possible in protein science by unlocking a new era of medical treatments and innovative materials, from next-generation vaccines to technologies that improve drug delivery.
The Nordstroms believed so strongly in the potential of Baker’s vision that they made leading foundational gifts to advance the institute’s research. Their support gives Baker and his team the flexibility to pursue high-risk, high-reward projects not typically funded by traditional funding sources like grants.
“I am grateful to Bruce and Jeannie Nordstrom for their ongoing support of the Institute for Protein Design,” says Baker. “Their early philanthropic gifts helped launch the IPD. They funded early-stage research with generous gifts with flexibility to drive high-risk, high-reward achievements. And they inspired other philanthropists to join them in advancing our research to create new proteins that solve the challenges our world faces today.”
This flexibility enabled the IPD, in partnership with multiple funders including the National Institutes of Health, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and TED Audacious Project donors, to pivot its research during the pandemic and develop a novel COVID-19 vaccine. This was the first fully approved medicine ever created using computational protein design.
The IPD has also created groundbreaking AI tools for protein science and made them freely available to researchers around the world. These technologies are making protein design more accessible by empowering scientists to generate completely new molecules, including new medicines for dozens of diseases.
