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| Ann Willis Hewes | |
|---|---|
| Name | Ann Willis Hewes |
| Birth date | 1950s |
| Birth place | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Biochemist; Professor; Researcher |
| Education | Harvard University (PhD); Massachusetts Institute of Technology (SB) |
| Known for | Enzyme kinetics; Protein engineering; Structural enzymology |
Ann Willis Hewes is an American biochemist and structural enzymologist noted for contributions to enzyme kinetics, protein engineering, and the structural basis of catalysis. Her work has bridged experimental methods in X-ray crystallography, nuclear magnetic resonance, and site-directed mutagenesis with computational modeling and industrial biotechnology applications. Hewes has held academic appointments and collaborated with national laboratories, corporate research centers, and international consortia.
Hewes was born in Boston and educated in the New England academic milieu that produced alumni from Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tufts University, and Boston University. She completed a Bachelor of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where contemporaries included graduates who later joined Bell Labs, Genentech, Biogen, and Merck. Hewes earned a PhD in biochemistry from Harvard University, undertaking doctoral work with investigators linked to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Salk Institute, Rockefeller University, and the National Institutes of Health. Postdoctoral training included fellowships at a molecular biology program associated with Stanford University and collaborations with scientists from Princeton University, Yale University, University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Hewes began her academic career as an assistant professor at a research university with ties to the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, the Gordon Research Conferences, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. She later joined faculty ranks at institutions collaborating with the Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Argonne National Laboratory. Her laboratory combined methods developed at Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, and Institut Pasteur with techniques pioneered at Brookhaven National Laboratory's National Synchrotron Light Source and later synchrotron facilities such as Diamond Light Source and ESRF. Hewes held visiting scientist positions at industrial research centers including DuPont, Pfizer, Eli Lilly and Company, and AbbVie, supporting translational projects in enzyme catalysis, biocatalysis, and industrial biotechnology.
Her administrative roles included serving on advisory boards for the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy programs in biological and environmental research, participating in review panels for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Wellcome Trust. She was an elected officer in societies such as the American Chemical Society and the Protein Society, and served on editorial boards for journals linked to Nature Publishing Group, Cell Press, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Hewes's research focused on mechanistic enzymology, the structural determinants of specificity, and the design of novel catalysts through protein engineering. Her group published in venues associated with Nature, Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Biochemistry, Cell, and discipline-specific outlets collaborating with editors from Oxford University Press and Springer Nature. Key topics included transition-state stabilization, directed evolution techniques inspired by work at University of California, San Francisco and California Institute of Technology, the role of active-site dynamics emphasized in projects connected to Columbia University and University of Chicago, and structure–function studies informed by crystallographers at Imperial College London and University of Cambridge.
Her lab produced high-resolution structures deposited in international repositories used by researchers at European Bioinformatics Institute and RCSB PDB, and developed computational protocols interfacing with resources from Argonne Leadership Computing Facility and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Collaborative papers involved teams from Johns Hopkins University, University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, and Duke University addressing enzyme mechanisms, inhibitor design, and industrial biocatalyst optimization.
Hewes received fellowships and honors from organizations such as the Guggenheim Foundation and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and awards from the American Chemical Society and the Protein Society. She was a recipient of research grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Professional recognitions included invited lectures at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Symposium, plenary talks at the Gordon Research Conferences, and election to leadership roles in the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Hewes's personal associations connected her to cultural and scientific communities in the Boston and New Haven regions, with ties to institutions such as the Museum of Science (Boston), Yale University Art Gallery, and regional scientific outreach programs coordinated with the Smithsonian Institution and the Royal Society. Outside the laboratory, she engaged in mentoring networks affiliated with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and participated in initiatives promoted by the Kauffman Foundation and philanthropic foundations supporting STEM education.
Hewes's legacy lies in advancing understanding of enzyme catalysis and in training generations of scientists who moved to faculty positions at University of California, San Diego, University of Washington, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Cornell University, and international institutions such as ETH Zurich and University of Tokyo. Her methodological contributions influenced projects at industrial partners including Novartis, Roche, and GlaxoSmithKline, and informed public-sector efforts in bioenergy and bioremediation associated with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the U.S. Department of Energy. Hewes's combination of structural, kinetic, and computational approaches continues to shape research programs at laboratories linked to Helmholtz Association and global consortia addressing catalytic design and protein function.
Category:American biochemists Category:Women biochemists Category:20th-century scientists Category:21st-century scientists