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

Kinetics and thermodynamics of amyloid formation from direct measurements of fluctuations in fibril mass

TPJ Knowles, W Shu, GL Devlin, S Meehan, S Auer, CM Dobson, ME Welland

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

(2007)

104

10016

(doi: 10.1073/pnas.0610659104)

Analysis of structural order in amyloid fibrils

TPJ Knowles, JF Smith, GL Devlin, CM Dobson, ME Welland

Nanotechnology

(2006)

18

044031

(doi: 10.1088/0957-4484/18/4/044031)

Characterization of the nanoscale properties of individual amyloid fibrils.

JF Smith, TPJ Knowles, CE Macphee, CM Dobson, ME Welland

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

(2006)

103

15806

(doi: 10.1073/pnas.0604035103)

Spatial Persistence of Angular Correlations in Amyloid Fibrils

TPJ Knowles, JF Smith, A Craig, CM Dobson, ME Welland

Phys Rev Lett

(2006)

96

238301

(doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.238301)

Enhanced stability of human prion proteins with two disulfide bridges

TPJ Knowles, R Zahn

Biophys J

(2006)

91

1494

(doi: 10.1529/biophysj.106.081653)

The component polypeptide chains of bovine insulin nucleate or inhibit aggregation of the parent protein in a conformation-dependent manner

GL Devlin, TPJ Knowles, A Squires, MG McCammon, SL Gras, MR Nilsson, CV Robinson, CM Dobson, CE MacPhee

Journal of molecular biology

(2006)

360

497

(doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2006.05.007)

Excitations with negative dispersion in a spin vortex

M Buess, TPJ Knowles, R Höllinger, T Haug, U Krey, D Weiss, D Pescia, MR Scheinfein, CH Back

Physical Review B Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

(2005)

71

104415

(doi: 10.1103/physrevb.71.104415)

Phase-resolved pulsed precessional motion at a Schottky barrier

M Buess, TPJ Knowles, U Ramsperger, D Pescia, CH Back

Physical Review B

(2004)

69

1

(doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.69.174422)

In vitro liquid-liquid phase separation induced by respiratory syncytial virus proteins and RNA

V Basse, T Knowles, T Agarwal, T Sneideris, C-A Richard, J Troussier, J-J Vasseur, F Debart, J-F Eléouët, E De Csillery, M Galloux

Science Advances

Real-Time Highly-Sensitive Protein Quantification Through On-Chip Chemiluminescence

HK Chiu, T Kartanas, S R. A. Devenish, K Saar, C Mouritsen Luxhøj, T Knowles

(doi: 10.26434/chemrxiv.12646376)