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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

Nucleated polymerization with secondary pathways. III. Equilibrium behavior and oligomer populations
SIA Cohen, M Vendruscolo, CM Dobson, TPJ Knowles
– The Journal of Chemical Physics
(2011)
135,
065107
(doi: 10.1063/1.3608918)
Nucleated polymerization with secondary pathways. II. Determination of self-consistent solutions to growth processes described by non-linear master equations
SIA Cohen, M Vendruscolo, CM Dobson, TPJ Knowles
– The Journal of chemical physics
(2011)
135,
065106
(doi: 10.1063/1.3608917)
Protein solubility and protein homeostasis: a generic view of protein misfolding disorders.
M Vendruscolo, TPJ Knowles, CM Dobson
– Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol
(2011)
3,
a010454
(doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a010454)
Direct observation of the interconversion of normal and pathogenic forms of α-synuclein
N Cremades, SIA Cohen, AY Chen, A Orte, M Sandal, RW Clarke, P Dunne, FA Aprile, CW Bertoncini, TPJ Knowles, CM Dobson, D Klenerman
– EUROPEAN BIOPHYSICS JOURNAL WITH BIOPHYSICS LETTERS
(2011)
40,
215
(link to publication)
Kinetics of protein aggregation
T Knowles, M Vendruscolo, C Dobson
– EUROPEAN BIOPHYSICS JOURNAL WITH BIOPHYSICS LETTERS
(2011)
40,
90
(link to publication)
Nanomechanics of functional and pathological amyloid materials.
TPJ Knowles, MJ Buehler
– Nat Nanotechnol
(2011)
6,
469
(doi: 10.1038/nnano.2011.102)
Nucleated polymerisation in the presence of pre-formed seed filaments
SIA Cohen, M Vendruscolo, CM Dobson, TPJ Knowles
(2011)
(doi: 10.48550/arxiv.1107.1454)
P4‐316: Stabilization of neurotoxic Alzheimer amyloid‐beta oligomers by protein engineering
A Dubnovitsky, A Sandberg, L Luheshi, S Söllvander, TP de Barros, B Macao, T Knowles, H Biverstål, C Lendel, F Ekholm‐Petterson, L Lannfelt, C Dobson, T Härd
– Alzheimer's & Dementia
(2011)
7,
e21
(doi: 10.1016/j.jalz.2011.09.061)
Conserved C-terminal charge exerts a profound influence on the aggregation rate of α-synuclein.
K Levitan, D Chereau, SIA Cohen, TPJ Knowles, CM Dobson, AL Fink, JP Anderson, JM Goldstein, GL Millhauser
– Journal of Molecular Biology
(2011)
411,
329
(doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2011.05.046)
Perturbation of the Stability of Amyloid Fibrils through Alteration of Electrostatic Interactions
SL Shammas, TPJ Knowles, AJ Baldwin, CE Macphee, ME Welland, CM Dobson, GL Devlin
– Biophysical journal
(2011)
100,
2783
(doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2011.04.039)
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Research Groups

Research Interest Groups

Telephone number

01223 336344

Email address

tpjk2@cam.ac.uk

College

St John's College

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    About the University

    Research at Cambridge