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Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry

 

Principal Research Associate

Principal Research Associate

In 2000 I decided to pursue an academic career following on from studying with the Open university whilst running a small family business. This lead to undertaking my PhD at Corpus Christi college Cambridge (2001 - 2005)looking at Sum Frequency spectroscopy of SDS and PEG. I graduated in 2005 and started working in the Paul Davies group as a post doctoral researcher. I am currently a fully independent researcher in the department holding the position of Principal Research Associate.

 

Research Interests

 

SFG spectroscopy of interfacial systems.

Primarily I am looking at the effect of small friction modifying additives for use in engine oil. This work involves the use of both linear and non linear surface spectroscopy. Particularly Sum frequency generation spectroscopy. This provides an ideal method for looking at the adsorption of friction modifiers onto metal surfaces insitu and in real time. It provides a unique surface specific spectrum of the interface with essentially no contribution from the overlying bulk phase. We currently have a new picosecond SFG spectrometer supplied by Ekspla running at 50 Hz with a tuning range of 4000 cm-1 to 625cm-1 , complementing this is a new SFG microscope (comissioned Feb 2014). This area of my work is directly funded by industry and is generally commercially sensitive.

In addition to the above I am interested in the structural characterisation of model lipid membrane systems. Most recently this has focused on the investigation of surfactin penetration of lipid membranes. We have a particular interest in the fundamental structures adopted at the interface of the lipid membrane as it is deformed by the surface and by the procedures used to bind the lipid bilayer to the supporting substrate. 

AFM-IR Microscopy

Following the purchase of a new Nano-IR AFM we have started to investigate more complex biologically related surfaces such as hair and red blood cell membranes. Photothermal AFM allows nanometer scale resolution for IR mapping and spectroscopy of surfaces allowing for the distribution of differing chemistries to be resolved at well beyond the difraction limit for conventional IR microscopy.

Publications

In situ investigation of the oxidation of a phospholipid monolayer by reactive oxygen species
AP Fellows, MTL Casford, PB Davies
– Biophysical Journal
(2023)
122,
2007
Investigating Bénard-Marangoni migration at the air-water interface in the time domain using sum frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy of palmitic acid monolayers.
AP Fellows, MTL Casford, PB Davies
– The Journal of chemical physics
(2022)
156,
164701
Probing the Nanoscale Heterogeneous Mixing in a High-Performance Polymer Blend
AP Fellows, D Puhan, JSS Wong, MTL Casford, PB Davies
– Polymers (Basel)
(2022)
14,
192
Chemically characterizing the cortical cell nano-structure of human hair using atomic force microscopy integrated with infrared spectroscopy (AFM-IR)
AP Fellows, MTL Casford, PB Davies
– International Journal of Cosmetic Science
(2021)
44,
42
Using Hybrid Atomic Force Microscopy and Infrared Spectroscopy (AFM-IR) to Identify Chemical Components of the Hair Medulla on the Nanoscale
AP Fellows, MTL Casford, PB Davies
– Journal of microscopy
(2021)
284,
189
A quantitative determination of lipid bilayer deposition efficiency using AFM
MH Wood, DC Milan, RJ Nichols, MTL Casford, SL Horswell
– RSC advances
(2021)
11,
19768
Orientation Analysis of Sum Frequency Generation Spectra of Di-chain Phospholipids: Effect of the Second Acyl Chain
AP Fellows, MTL Casford, PB Davies
– AIP Advances
(2021)
11,
045119
Nanoscale Adhesion Profiling and Membrane Characterisation in Sickle Cell Disease using Hybrid Atomic Force Microscopy-IR Spectroscopy
AP Fellows, MTL Casford, PB Davies, JS Gibson, JN Brewin, DC Rees
– Colloids and surfaces. B, Biointerfaces
(2020)
197,
111383
Infrared Nanospectroscopy of Air-Sensitive Biological Substrates Protected by Thin Hydrogel Films
AP Fellows, MTL Casford, PB Davies
– Biophysical Journal
(2020)
119,
1474
Understanding the Lubrication Mechanism of Polyvinyl Alcohol Hydrogels using Infrared Nanospectroscopy
AP Fellows, D Puhan, MTL Casford, PB Davies
– Journal of Physical Chemistry C
(2020)
124,
18091
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Research Group

Research Interest Group

Telephone number

01223 334663
36526 (shared)

Email address

mtlc2@cam.ac.uk