Donald Hilvert is the Recipient of the 2025 Abeles and Jencks Award
Dear ACS Division of Biological Chemistry members,
I am pleased to announce that Professor Donald Hilvert of the ETH in Zurich is the recipient of the 2025 Abeles and Jencks Award, which was established to recognize outstanding contributions to our understanding of the chemistry of biological processes, with particular emphasis on structure, function, and mechanism. Prof. Hilvert’s discoveries have increased our understanding of enzyme mechanisms and catalysis and shown how the insights can be used to design and evolve catalysts to carry out new chemical transformations. His body of work highlights the broad range of experimental approaches that has led to the generation of catalysts that are nearly as efficient as those found in Nature.
Chorismate mutase played a central role in Prof. Hilvert’s research program. Early on he recognized the limits of catalytic antibodies and published a thoughtful paper describing them. He was one of the first to use expressed protein ligation to study mechanism. In a series of experiments, he showed that a protein’s conformational plasticity was associated with more efficient catalysis. These studies directed enzymologists’ focus on protein dynamics and the relationship to catalysis. He successfully developed new catalysts from designed protein scaffolds in collaboration with others (Baker, Mayo, and Houk). Some examples include artificial retro-aldolases, evolution of a Kemp eliminase, and a metallo-Diels-Alderase from a Zn2+-binding protein. He made ground-breaking contributions to tailoring the properties of molecular machines. His group, for example, designed and directed the evolution of self-assembling cage-forming proteins. These and other examples continue to provide insight into the types of changes that emerge leading to improved catalysis. Hilvert helped shape the field of protein design and directed evolution with deep physical chemical insight and rigor.
Prof. Hilvert is currently Professor Emeritus in the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biology at the ETH, Zurich. He has received numerous Honors and Awards in his career and provided significant service to the scientific community. He has mentored many excellent young scientists and is very generous with his time and support outside his own circle.
Please join me in congratulating Prof. Hilvert for receipt of this prestigious award.
Sincerely,
Jen Heemstra, Washington University
Chair