Professor Tuomas Knowles | 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

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)

Automated Behavioral Analysis of Large <em>C. elegans</em> Populations Using a Wide Field-of-view Tracking Platform

M Perni, S Casford, FA Aprile, EA Nollen, TPJ Knowles, M Vendruscolo, CM Dobson

J Vis Exp

(2018)

2018

ARTN e58643

(doi: 10.3791/58643)

Statistical Mechanics of Globular Oligomer Formation by Protein Molecules.

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

J Phys Chem B

(2018)

122

11721

(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)

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

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

(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

Nature communications

(2018)

9

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 biomaterialia

(2018)

78

111

(doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2018.08.010)

Extrinsic Amyloid-Binding Dyes for Detection of Individual Protein Aggregates in Solution.

D Klenerman

Analytical chemistry

(2018)

90

10385

(doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.8b02226)

Identification of oxidative stress in red blood cells with nanoscale chemical resolution by infrared nanospectroscopy

FS Ruggeri, C Marcott, S Dinarelli, G Longo, M Girasole, G Dietler, TPJ Knowles

International journal of molecular sciences

(2018)

19

2582

(doi: 10.3390/ijms19092582)