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Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry

 

Professor Tuomas Knowles

Professor of Physical Chemistry and Biophysics

1920 Professor of Physical Chemistry

Our research

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.

Watch Professor Knowles discuss his research

Take a tour of the Sir Rodney Sweetnam laboratory

Publications

The unhappy chaperone.
S Linse, K Thalberg, TPJ Knowles
– QRB Discovery
(2021)
2,
e7
(doi: 10.1017/qrd.2021.5)
Liquid-liquid phase separated systems from reversible gel-sol transition of protein microgels
Y Xu, R Qi, H Zhu, B Li, Y Shen, G Krainer, D Klenerman, TPJ Knowles
– Advanced Materials
(2021)
33,
2008670
(doi: 10.1002/adma.202008670)
Protein Conjugation by Electrophilic Alkynylation Using 5‑(Alkynyl)dibenzothiophenium Triflates
V Laserna, A Istrate, K Kafuta, TA Hakala, TPJ Knowles, M Alcarazo, GJL Bernardes
– Bioconjugate chemistry
(2021)
32,
1570
(doi: 10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.1c00317)
Biomembranes in Bioelectronic Sensing
AK Jayaram, AM Pappa, S Ghosh, ZA Manzer, WC Traberg, TPJ Knowles, S Daniel, RM Owens
– Trends in biotechnology
(2021)
40,
107
(doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2021.06.001)
Soluble amyloid beta-containing aggregates are present throughout the brain at early stages of Alzheimer’s disease
DI Sideris, JSH Danial, D Emin, FS Ruggeri, Z Xia, YP Zhang, E Lobanova, H Dakin, S De, A Miller, JC Sang, TPJ Knowles, M Vendruscolo, G Fraser, D Crowther, D Klenerman
– Brain communications
(2021)
3,
fcab147-
(doi: 10.1093/braincomms/fcab147)
Squalamine and Its Derivatives Modulate the Aggregation of Amyloid-β and α-Synuclein and Suppress the Toxicity of Their Oligomers.
R Limbocker, R Staats, S Chia, FS Ruggeri, B Mannini, CK Xu, M Perni, R Cascella, A Bigi, LR Sasser, NR Block, AK Wright, RP Kreiser, ET Custy, G Meisl, S Errico, J Habchi, P Flagmeier, T Kartanas, JE Hollows, LT Nguyen, K LeForte, D Barbut, JR Kumita, C Cecchi, M Zasloff, TPJ Knowles, CM Dobson, F Chiti, M Vendruscolo
– Frontiers in neuroscience
(2021)
15,
680026
(doi: 10.3389/fnins.2021.680026)
Machine learning-aided protein identification from multidimensional signatures.
Y Zhang, MA Wright, KL Saar, P Challa, AS Morgunov, QAE Peter, S Devenish, CM Dobson, TPJ Knowles
– Lab Chip
(2021)
21,
2922
(doi: 10.1039/d0lc01148g)
Controlled self-assembly of plant proteins into high-performance multifunctional nanostructured films
A Kamada, M Rodriguez-Garcia, FS Ruggeri, Y Shen, A Levin, TPJ Knowles
– Nat Commun
(2021)
12,
3529
(doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23813-6)
pH-Responsive Capsules with a Fibril Scaffold Shell Assembled from an Amyloidogenic Peptide
U Shimanovich, A Levin, D Eliaz, T Michaels, Z Toprakcioglu, B Frohm, E De Genst, S Linse, KS Åkerfeldt, TPJ Knowles
– Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)
(2021)
17,
e2007188
(doi: 10.1002/smll.202007188)
Pulsed Hydrogen–Deuterium Exchange Reveals Altered Structures and Mechanisms in the Aggregation of Familial Alzheimer’s Disease Mutants
E Illes-Toth, G Meisl, DL Rempel, TPJ Knowles, ML Gross
– ACS Chem Neurosci
(2021)
12,
1972
(doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.1c00072)
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Research Groups

Research Interest Groups

Telephone number

01223 336344

Email address

tpjk2@cam.ac.uk

College

St John's College

    Study at Cambridge

    About the University

    Research at Cambridge