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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

Formation of Nano brillar Self-Healing Hydrogels using Antimicrobial Peptides
EG Wiita, Z Toprakcioglu, AK Jayaram, TPJ Knowles
– ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
(2024)
16,
46167
Differential interactions determine anisotropies at interfaces of RNA-based biomolecular condensates
NA Erkamp, M Farag, Y Qiu, D Qian, T Sneideris, T Wu, TJ Welsh, H Ausserwӧger, TJ Krug, DA Weitz, M Lew, TPJ Knowles, RV Pappu
(2024)
α-Synuclein oligomers form by secondary nucleation
CK Xu, G Meisl, EA Andrzejewska, G Krainer, AJ Dear, M Castellana-Cruz, S Turi, IA Edu, G Vivacqua, RPB Jacquat, WE Arter, MG Spillantini, M Vendruscolo, S Linse, TPJ Knowles
– Nature communications
(2024)
15,
7083
Competing addition processes give distinct growth regimes in the assembly of 1D filaments
SA Akram, T Brown, S Whitelam, G Meisl, TPJ Knowles, JD Schmit
(2024)
Dominance analysis to assess solute contributions to multicomponent phase equilibria.
D Qian, H Ausserwoger, T Sneideris, M Farag, RV Pappu, TPJ Knowles
– Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(2024)
121,
e2407453121
Synapsin condensation is governed by sequence-encoded molecular grammars
C Hoffmann, KM Ruff, IA Edu, MK Shinn, JV Tromm, MR King, A Pant, H Ausserwöger, JR Morgan, TPJ Knowles, RV Pappu, D Milovanovic
(2024)
Assessment of Fine-Tuned Large Language Models for Real-World Chemistry and Material Science Applications
J van Herck, MV Gil, KM Jablonka, A Abrudan, A Anker, M Asgari, B Blaiszik, L Choudhury, C Corminboeuf, H Daglar, IT Foster, S Garcia, M Garvin, G Godin, LL Good, J Gu, NX Hu, X Jin, T Junkers, S Keskin, TPJ Knowles, R Laplaza, S Majumdar, H Mashhadimoslem, RD McIntosh, SM Moosavi, B Mourino, F Nerli, C Pevida, N Poudineh, M Rajabi-Kochi, KL Saar, FH Saboor, M Sagharichiha, KJ Schmidt, J Shi, D Svatunek, M Taddei, I Tetko, D Tolnai, S Vahdatifar, J Whitmer, F Wieland, R Willumeit-Romer, A Zuttel, B Smit
(2024)
Molecular properties and diagnostic potential of monoclonal antibodies targeting cytotoxic α-synuclein oligomers
J Nielsen, J Lauritsen, JN Pedersen, JS Nowak, MK Bendtsen, G Kleijwegt, K Lusser, LC Pitarch, JV Moreno, MM Schneider, G Krainer, L Goksøyr, P Khalifé, SS Kaalund, S Aznar, M Kjærgaard, V Sereikaité, K Strømgaard, TPJ Knowles, MA Nielsen, AF Sander, M Romero-Ramos, DE Otzen
– npj Parkinson's Disease
(2024)
10,
139
Protein Condensate Atlas from predictive models of heteromolecular condensate composition
KL Saar, RM Scrutton, K Bloznelyte, AS Morgunov, LL Good, AA Lee, SA Teichmann, TPJ Knowles
– Nature Communications
(2024)
15,
5418
Thermodynamic profiles for cotranslational trigger factor substrate recognition.
TW Herling, AME Cassaignau, AS Wentink, QAE Peter, PC Kumar, T Kartanas, MM Schneider, LD Cabrita, J Christodoulou, TPJ Knowles
– Science advances
(2024)
10,
eadn4824
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Research Interest Groups

Telephone number

01223 336344

Email address

tpjk2@cam.ac.uk