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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

Probing protein aggregation with quartz crystal microbalances.
TPJ Knowles, GL Devlin, CM Dobson, ME Welland
– Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)
(2011)
752,
137
(doi: 10.1007/978-1-60327-223-0_9)
Population of Nonnative States of Lysozyme Variants Drives Amyloid Fibril Formation
AK Buell, A Dhulesia, MF Mossuto, N Cremades, JR Kumita, M Dumoulin, ME Welland, TPJ Knowles, X Salvatella, CM Dobson
– Journal of the American Chemical Society
(2011)
133,
7737
(doi: 10.1021/ja109620d)
Quantitative approaches for characterising fibrillar protein nanostructures
DA White, CM Dobson, ME Welland, TPJ Knowles
– MRS Advances
(2011)
1274,
405
(doi: 10.1557/proc-1274-qq04-05)
Relationship between prion propensity and the rates of individual molecular steps of fibril assembly.
Y-Q Wang, AK Buell, X-Y Wang, ME Welland, CM Dobson, TPJ Knowles, S Perrett
– Journal of Biological Chemistry
(2011)
286,
12101
(doi: 10.1074/jbc.m110.208934)
Interactions between Amyloidophilic dyes and their relevance to studies of amyloid inhibitors
AK Buell, CM Dobson, TPJ Knowles, ME Welland
– Biophys J
(2010)
99,
3492
(doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2010.08.074)
Stabilization of neurotoxic Alzheimer amyloid-beta oligomers by protein engineering.
A Sandberg, LM Luheshi, S Söllvander, T Pereira de Barros, B Macao, TPJ Knowles, H Biverstål, C Lendel, F Ekholm-Petterson, A Dubnovitsky, L Lannfelt, CM Dobson, T Härd
– Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
(2010)
107,
15595
(doi: 10.1073/pnas.1001740107)
Imaging Alzheimer's disease-related protein aggregates in human cells using a selenium label
EK McGuire, M Motskin, TPJ Knowles, CM Dobson, DW McComb, AE Porter
– Journal of Physics Conference Series
(2010)
241,
012020
(doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/241/1/012020)
Surface attachment of protein fibrils via covalent modification strategies
AK Buell, DA White, C Meier, ME Welland, TPJ Knowles, CM Dobson
– J Phys Chem B
(2010)
114,
10925
(doi: 10.1021/jp101579n)
Frequency Factors in a Landscape Model of Filamentous Protein Aggregation
AK Buell, JR Blundell, CM Dobson, ME Welland, EM Terentjev, TPJ Knowles
– Phys Rev Lett
(2010)
104,
228101
(doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.104.228101)
An algorithm and experimental protocol to obtain the kinetic parameters of fibrillar growth from a first-principles general model of breakable filament assembly
SI Cohen, M Sandal, L Rajah, CM Dobson, M Vendruscolo, TPJ Knowles
– FEBS JOURNAL
(2010)
277,
257
(link to publication)
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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