Professor Tuomas Knowles

We study the physical and chemical aspects of the behaviour of biopolymers and other soft systems. Much of our work has been focused on the physical aspects underlying the self-assembly of protein molecules. Self-organisation is the driving force generating complex matter in nature, and the process by which the machinery providing functionality in living systems is assembled. The goal of our research is to understand the physical and chemical factors which control the structures and dynamics of biomolecular assemblies, and the connections between the nanoscale characteristics of the component molecules and the physical properties of large-scale assemblies and their behaviour on a mesoscopic to macroscopic scale. The techniques used in our laboratory include biosensors, optical lithography, microfluidic devices and scanning probe microscopy and spectroscopy. We work both with natural and synthetic polymers and our interests range from fundamental chemical physics to technological applications in material science and molecular medicine.

Publications

Resolving protein mixtures using microfluidic diffusional sizing combined with synchrotron radiation circular dichroism.

C Bortolini, T Kartanas, D Copic, I Condado Morales, Y Zhang, PK Challa, Q Peter, T Jávorfi, R Hussain, M Dong, G Siligardi, TPJ Knowles, J Charmet

– Lab on a chip

(2018)

(DOI: 10.1039/c8lc00757h)

Image-Assisted Microvessel-on-a-Chip Platform for Studying Cancer Cell Transendothelial Migration Dynamics

C Bertulli, M Gerigk, N Piano, Y Liu, D Zhang, T Müller, TJ Knowles, YYS Huang

– Scientific reports

(2018)

12480

(DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-30776-0)

Mechanobiology of Protein Droplets: Force Arises from Disorder.

TJ Welsh, Y Shen, A Levin, TPJ Knowles

– Cell

(2018)

175,

1457

(DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.11.020)

Quantifying Co-Oligomer Formation by α-Synuclein

M Iljina, AJ Dear, GA Garcia, S De, L Tosatto, P Flagmeier, DR Whiten, TCT Michaels, D Frenkel, CM Dobson, TPJ Knowles, D Klenerman

– ACS Nano

(2018)

12,

10855

(DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.8b03575)

Statistical Mechanics of Globular Oligomer Formation by Protein Molecules.

AJ Dear, A Šarić, TCT Michaels, CM Dobson, TPJ Knowles

– J Phys Chem B

(2018)

(DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.8b07805)

Direct observation of murine prion protein replication in vitro

JC Sang, G Meisl, AM Thackray, L Hong, A Ponjavic, TPJ Knowles, R Bujdoso, D Klenerman

– J Am Chem Soc

(2018)

140,

14789

(DOI: 10.1021/jacs.8b08311)

Observation of molecular self-assembly events in massively parallel microdroplet arrays

Z Toprakcioglu, PK Challa, A Levin, TPJ Knowles

– Lab on a Chip

(2018)

18,

3303

(DOI: 10.1039/c8lc00862k)

SAR by kinetics for drug discovery in protein misfolding diseases.

S Chia, J Habchi, TCT Michaels, SIA Cohen, S Linse, CM Dobson, TPJ Knowles, M Vendruscolo

– Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

(2018)

115,

10245

(DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1807884115)

Microfluidic deposition for resolving single-molecule protein architecture and heterogeneity

FS Ruggeri, J Charmet, T Kartanas, Q Peter, S Chia, J Habchi, CM Dobson, M Vendruscolo, TPJ Knowles

– Nat Commun

(2018)

3890

(DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06345-4)

Solution fibre spinning technique for the fabrication of tuneable decellularised matrix-laden fibres and fibrous micromembranes

Z Li, J Tuffin, IM Lei, FS Ruggeri, NS Lewis, EL Gill, T Savin, L Huleihel, SF Badylak, T Knowles, SC Satchell, GI Welsh, MA Saleem, YYS Huang

– Acta Biomater

(2018)

78,

111

(DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2018.08.010)

Department of Chemistry

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