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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

Distinct thermodynamic signatures of oligomer generation in the aggregation of the amyloid-β peptide.
SIA Cohen, R Cukalevski, TCT Michaels, A Šarić, M Törnquist, M Vendruscolo, CM Dobson, AK Buell, TPJ Knowles, S Linse
– Nature chemistry
(2018)
10,
523
(doi: 10.1038/s41557-018-0023-x)
Reaction rate theory for supramolecular kinetics: application to protein aggregation
TCT Michaels, LX Liu, S Curk, PG Bolhuis, A Saric, TPJ Knowles
(2018)
(doi: 10.48550/arxiv.1803.04851)
Chemical Kinetics for Bridging Molecular Mechanisms and Macroscopic Measurements of Amyloid Fibril Formation.
TCT Michaels, A Šarić, J Habchi, S Chia, G Meisl, M Vendruscolo, CM Dobson, TPJ Knowles
– Annual Review of Physical Chemistry
(2018)
69,
273
(doi: 10.1146/annurev-physchem-050317-021322)
Real-Time Intrinsic Fluorescence Visualization and Sizing of Proteins and Protein Complexes in Microfluidic Devices
PK Challa, Q Peter, MA Wright, Y Zhang, KL Saar, JA Carozza, JLP Benesch, TPJ Knowles
– Analytical Chemistry
(2018)
90,
3849
(doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.7b04523)
Additional contributions from: Nobel Symposium 162 - Microfluidics
S Löfås, AE Herr, J Qin, T Knowles, T Kitamori, H Lu, DJ Beebe, J Han, J Landers, A Manz, R Zengerle, DA Weitz, J Elf, T Laurell
(2018)
(doi: 10.48550/arxiv.1802.08565)
Microfluidic Diffusion Platform for Characterizing the Sizes of Lipid Vesicles and the Thermodynamics of Protein-Lipid Interactions
H Gang, C Galvagnion, G Meisl, T Müller, M Pfammatter, AK Buell, A Levin, CM Dobson, B Mu, TPJ Knowles
– Analytical Chemistry
(2018)
90,
3284
(doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.7b04820)
Direct Observation of Oligomerization by Single Molecule Fluorescence Reveals a Multistep Aggregation Mechanism for the Yeast Prion Protein Ure2.
J Yang, AJ Dear, TCT Michaels, CM Dobson, TPJ Knowles, S Wu, S Perrett
– Journal of the American Chemical Society
(2018)
140,
2493
(doi: 10.1021/jacs.7b10439)
Modulating Amyloid-Beta Aggregation to Reduce the Toxicity of its Oligomeric Aggregates
R Limbocker, B Mannini, S Chia, FS Ruggeri, M Perni, R Cascella, C Xu, J Habchi, JR Kumita, F Chiti, TPJ Knowles, M Vendruscolo, CM Dobson
– Biophysical Journal
(2018)
114,
430a
(doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2017.11.2382)
2-Photon Lithography for Nanofluidic Lab-on-Chip Devices
O Vanderpoorten, PK Challa, Q Peter, J Charmet, N Curry, TPJ Knowles, CF Kaminski
– Biophysical Journal
(2018)
114,
689A
(doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2017.11.3716)
Probing the Interaction of ABETA42 Amyloid Species with an Aggregation Suppressor Molecule by Infrared Nanospectroscopy
FS Ruggeri, J Habchi, S Chia, M Vendruscolo, TPJ Knowles
– Biophysical Journal
(2018)
114,
224a
(doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2017.11.1246)
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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