Dr. John Moult Honored with 2027 ASBMB DeLano Award for Computational Biosciences

We are proud to congratulate Dr. John Moult on receiving the 2027 American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) DeLano Award for Computational Biosciences. This prestigious award recognizes a scientist who develops or applies innovative and accessible computational approaches to advance research in the life sciences at the molecular or cellular level. ASBMB’s annual awards recognize scientists for their contributions to science, education, and the broader scientific community.

Dr. Moult is a Research Professor and Fellow at IBBR and Professor Emeritus in the Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research focuses on computational modeling of biological systems and has demonstrated broad applications ranging from protein structure and neural networks to the study of complex trait diseases. 

A significant part of Dr. Moult’s pioneering work is the Critical Assessment of Structure Prediction (CASP), a large global scientific initiative he co-founded and continues to lead. CASP brings together research groups from around the world to predict the 3D structure of biological macromolecules and complexes which can provide key insight into function. Participants submitted computationally-derived structures and independent assessors compared these models with experimental data. This rigorous framework provides a way to properly evaluate and accelerate successive advances in protein structure prediction, including the development of increasingly powerful AI-based methods.

CASP’s impact extended into a significant breakthrough in computational biology. The CASP challenges played a pivotal role in the creation and validation of AlphaFold, an AI system capable of predicting the 3D structure of proteins with high accuracy. In 2024, AlphaFold was recognized with the Nobel Prize.

Through his innovative work in computational biology, he has helped shape the field and advance new approaches to understanding complex biological systems. The DeLano Award honors the significance of these contributions and the lasting influence
of his research. Congratulations to Dr. Moult on this well-deserved recognition!