Michael Hecht

Michael Hecht is a Professor of Chemistry at Princeton University, leading cutting-edge research in chemical biology and synthetic biology. His work focuses on designing novel proteins and exploring artificial genomes to understand the limits of biological systems.

• Affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Princeton University

Hecht's research spans interdisciplinary domains, including:

• De novo protein design
• Artificial enzymes and metal-binding proteins
• Engineering synthetic genomes
• Applications in nanomaterial synthesis

His publications reveal a trajectory from foundational protein design studies in the 1990s to recent breakthroughs in creating life-sustaining artificial proteins. Key themes include protein-metal interactions (2016, 2019), synthetic enzymes (2018, 2022), and explorations of proteome-scale novelty (2018, 2024).

Contact: hecht@princeton.edu