Demis Hassabis
Nobel laureate, DeepMind co-founder and CEO, and Isomorphic Labs founder; knighted 2023.
Last refreshed: 13 May 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
What has Demis Hassabis built since winning the Nobel Prize in Chemistry?
Timeline for Demis Hassabis
Founded Isomorphic Labs in 2021 as DeepMind spinout with Alphabet retaining majority control
UK Startups and Innovation: Sovereign AI unit backs Alphabet-owned lab- What did Demis Hassabis win the Nobel Prize for?
- Demis Hassabis shared the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing AlphaFold2, the AI system that predicted the three-dimensional structure of nearly every known protein.Source: Nobel Foundation
- What is Demis Hassabis doing after winning the Nobel Prize?
- Since the 2024 Nobel, Hassabis has continued as DeepMind CEO and led Isomorphic Labs through a $2.1bn Series B fundraise in May 2026, the largest UK life-sciences round on record.Source: Lowdown
- How does Demis Hassabis use AlphaFold in drug discovery?
- Through Isomorphic Labs, an Alphabet subsidiary he founded in 2021, Hassabis applies the protein-structure prediction methods behind AlphaFold to design new small-molecule drugs targeting cancer, rare diseases, and metabolic disorders.Source: Isomorphic Labs
- Is Demis Hassabis a knight?
- Yes. Demis Hassabis was awarded a knighthood in the 2023 King's Birthday Honours for services to artificial intelligence.Source: UK Government
Background
Sir Demis Hassabis is the co-founder and CEO of DeepMind and the founder of Isomorphic Labs. In October 2024 he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with John Jumper and David Baker for the development of AlphaFold2, the AI system that predicted the structure of nearly every known protein, transforming structural biology and accelerating drug design globally. He received a knighthood in 2023.
Born in London in 1976, Hassabis was a child chess prodigy ranked second in the world under-14 before turning to computer Science at Cambridge and a PhD in cognitive neuroscience at UCL. He co-founded DeepMind in 2010, which Google acquired in 2014. In 2021 he founded Isomorphic Labs as an Alphabet subsidiary to apply the AlphaFold methodology to drug discovery.
In May 2026 Isomorphic Labs closed a $2.1bn Series B led by Thrive Capital, the largest UK life-sciences fundraise on record, with the UK Sovereign AI Unit participating as a co-investor. Hassabis remains the public face of the intersection between frontier AI research and pharmaceutical applications, and his dual role at DeepMind and Isomorphic makes him the most prominent figure in the UK's ambition to lead in AI-native medicine.