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Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry

 

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

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
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 chemical neuroscience
(2021)
12,
1972
In situ Sub-Cellular Identification of Functional Amyloids in Bacteria and Archaea by Infrared Nanospectroscopy.
DE Otzen, MS Dueholm, Z Najarzadeh, TPJ Knowles, FS Ruggeri
– Small methods
(2021)
5,
e2001002
Rapid highly-sensitive general protein quantification through on-chip chemiluminescence
HK Chiu, T Kartanas, KL Saar, CM Luxhøj, S Devenish, TPJ Knowles
– Biomicrofluidics
(2021)
15,
024113
LAG3 is not expressed in human and murine neurons and does not modulate α-synucleinopathies
M Emmenegger, E De Cecco, M Hruska-Plochan, T Eninger, MM Schneider, M Barth, E Tantardini, P de Rossi, M Bacioglu, RG Langston, A Kaganovich, N Bengoa-Vergniory, A Gonzalez-Guerra, M Avar, D Heinzer, R Reimann, LM Häsler, TW Herling, NS Matharu, N Landeck, K Luk, R Melki, PJ Kahle, S Hornemann, TPJ Knowles, MR Cookson, M Polymenidou, M Jucker, A Aguzzi
(2021)
Antibody Affinity Governs the Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 Spike/ACE2 Binding in Patient Serum
S Fiedler, MA Piziorska, V Denninger, AS Morgunov, A Ilsley, AY Malik, MM Schneider, SRA Devenish, G Meisl, V Kosmoliaptsis, A Aguzzi, H Fiegler, TPJ Knowles
– ACS infectious diseases
(2021)
7,
2362
Elongation rate and average length of amyloid fibrils in solution using isotope-labelled small-angle neutron scattering.
BJ Eves, JJ Doutch, AE Terry, H Yin, M Moulin, M Haertlein, VT Forsyth, P Flagmeier, TPJ Knowles, DM Dias, G Lotze, AM Seddon, AM Squires
– RSC Chemical Biology
(2021)
2,
1232
Learning the molecular grammar of protein condensates from sequence determinants and embeddings
KL Saar, AS Morgunov, R Qi, WE Arter, G Krainer, AA Lee, TPJ Knowles
– Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
(2021)
118,
e2019053118
Tau AD fragment aggregates proliferate through autocatalytic secondary nucleation
DR Camargo, E Sileikis, S Chia, E Axell, K Bernfur, R Cataldi, S Cohen, G Meisl, J Habchi, T Knowles, M Vendruscolo, S Linse
(2021)
Scaling analysis reveals the mechanism and rates of prion replication in vivo.
G Meisl, T Kurt, I Condado-Morales, C Bett, S Sorce, M Nuvolone, TCT Michaels, D Heinzer, M Avar, SIA Cohen, S Hornemann, A Aguzzi, CM Dobson, CJ Sigurdson, TPJ Knowles
– Nat Struct Mol Biol
(2021)
28,
365
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Research Interest Groups

Telephone number

01223 336344

Email address

tpjk2@cam.ac.uk