Tom Muir wins ACS Hirschmann Award

Tom Muir, the Van Zandt Williams Jr. Class of 1965 Professor of Chemistry, has been awarded the American Chemical Society (ACS) national 2026 Ralph F. Hirschmann Award in Peptide Chemistry for exceptional achievement in chemistry.

The award is sponsored by Merck Research Laboratories.

Muir was selected for the development of enabling peptide and protein ligation methods and their application to provide groundbreaking new insights into a myriad of biological processes, a part of the Muir Lab’s mission for over three decades.

“It is wonderful that our work in this area has been recognized in this way,” said Muir. “I tip my hat to all the incredible students and postdocs who have worked with me over the years. That they have stuck with me on this long journey, which at times must have seemed rather quixotic, never ceases to amaze me.”

This is the second ACS award Muir has received this year. In May, he was selected for the 2025 Bristol Myers Squibb Award in Enzyme Chemistry and Chemical Biology from the ACS Division of Biochemistry and Chemical Biology.

He will be feted for both at the 2026 ACS Spring Convention in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Muir Lab’s peptide and protein ligation methods have helped scientists shed light over the years on some basic biochemical problems, especially in the epigenetics area. Their work has also led to the development of various reagents (modified proteins, many of which are now commercially available) that chemists and biologists use in their research.

In a more applied sense, some of the research in this area has led to a spin-off company focused on developing gene therapy strategies, some of which are currently undergoing clinical trials for a form of blindness, according to Muir.