Professor Tuomas Knowles | Page 44 | Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry

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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

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)

Microfluidic approaches for probing amyloid assembly and behaviour

TW Herling, A Levin, KL Saar, CM Dobson, TPJ Knowles

– Lab on a Chip - Miniaturisation for Chemistry and Biology

(2018)

18,

999

(doi: 10.1039/c7lc01241a)

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)

Enhancing power density of biophotovoltaics by decoupling storage and power delivery

KL Saar, P Bombelli, DJ Lea-Smith, T Call, EM Aro, T Müller, CJ Howe, TPJ Knowles

– Nature Energy

(2018)

3,

75

(doi: 10.1038/s41560-017-0073-0)

Kinetic barriers to α-synuclein protofilament formation and conversion into mature fibrils.

JWP Brown, G Meisl, TPJ Knowles, AK Buell, CM Dobson, C Galvagnion

– Chemical Communications

(2018)

54,

7854

(doi: 10.1039/c8cc03002b)

Stochastic calculus of protein filament formation under spatial confinement

TCT Michaels, AJ Dear, TPJ Knowles

– NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS

(2018)

20,

ARTN 055007

(doi: 10.1088/1367-2630/aac0bc)

On-Chip Measurements of Membrane Protein Interactions

Y Zhang, T Knowles, S Linse

– PROTEIN SCIENCE

(2018)

27,

120

(link to publication)

Secondary nucleation in amyloid formation

M Törnquist, TCT Michaels, K Sanagavarapu, X Yang, G Meisl, SIA Cohen, TPJ Knowles, S Linse

– Chemical Communications

(2018)

54,

8667

(doi: 10.1039/c8cc02204f)

On-chip measurements of protein unfolding from direct observations of micron-scale diffusion.

Y Zhang, EV Yates, L Hong, KL Saar, G Meisl, CM Dobson, TPJ Knowles

– Chem Sci

(2018)

9,

3503

(doi: 10.1039/c7sc04331g)