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

Micro- and nanoscale hierarchical structure of core–shell protein microgels

LR Volpatti, U Shimanovich, FS Ruggeri, S Bolisetty, T Müller, TO Mason, TCT Michaels, R Mezzenga, G Dietler, TPJ Knowles

J Mater Chem B

(2016)

4

7989

(doi: 10.1039/c6tb02683d)

Dynamics of heteromolecular filament formation

AJ Dear, TCT Michaels, TPJ Knowles

J Chem Phys

(2016)

145

175101

(doi: 10.1063/1.4966571)

β-Synuclein suppresses both the initiation and amplification steps of α-synuclein aggregation via competitive binding to surfaces

JWP Brown, AK Buell, TCT Michaels, G Meisl, J Carozza, P Flagmeier, M Vendruscolo, TPJ Knowles, CM Dobson, C Galvagnion

Scientific reports

(2016)

6

36010

(doi: 10.1038/srep36010)

Dynamic microfluidic control of supramolecular peptide self-assembly

ZA Arnon, A Vitalis, A Levin, TCT Michaels, A Caflisch, TPJ Knowles, L Adler-Abramovich, E Gazit

Nat Commun

(2016)

7

13190

(doi: 10.1038/ncomms13190)

Scaling and dimensionality in the chemical kinetics of protein filament formation

TCT Michaels, AJ Dear, TPJ Knowles

International Reviews in Physical Chemistry

(2016)

35

679

(doi: 10.1080/0144235x.2016.1239335)

Fabrication of fibrillosomes from droplets stabilized by protein nanofibrils at all-aqueous interfaces

Y Song, U Shimanovich, TCT Michaels, Q Ma, J Li, TPJ Knowles, HC Shum

Nature Communications

(2016)

7

12934

(doi: 10.1038/ncomms12934)

Kinetics of spontaneous filament nucleation via oligomers: insights from theory and simulation

A Šarić, TCT Michaels, A Zaccone, TPJ Knowles, D Frenkel

(2016)

(doi: 10.48550/arxiv.1610.02320)

Elastic instability-mediated actuation by a supra-molecular polymer

A Levin, TCT Michaels, L Adler-Abramovich, TO Mason, T Müller, B Zhang, L Mahadevan, E Gazit, TPJ Knowles

Nature Physics

(2016)

12

926

(doi: 10.1038/NPHYS3808)

Intra-chain organisation of hydrophobic residues controls inter-chain aggregation rates of amphiphilic polymers

P Varilly, AP Willard, JB Kirkegaard, TPJ Knowles, D Chandler

(2016)

(doi: 10.48550/arxiv.1610.00183)

Kinetics of fragmentation and dissociation of two-strand protein filaments: Coarse-grained simulations and experiments

A Zaccone, I Terentjev, TW Herling, TPJ Knowles, A Aleksandrova, EM Terentjev

(2016)

(doi: 10.48550/arxiv.1609.05027)