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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

An evolutionarily conserved mechanism controls reversible amyloids of pyruvate kinase via pH-sensing regions
G Cereghetti, VM Kissling, LM Koch, A Arm, CC Schmidt, Y Thüringer, N Zamboni, P Afanasyev, M Linsenmeier, C Eichmann, S Kroschwald, J Zhou, Y Cao, DM Pfizenmaier, T Wiegand, R Cadalbert, G Gupta, D Boehringer, TPJ Knowles, R Mezzenga, P Arosio, R Riek, M Peter
– Developmental Cell
(2024)
59,
1876
Biomolecular condensates sustain pH gradients at equilibrium through charge neutralisation
H Ausserwöger, R Scrutton, C Fischer, T Sneideris, D Qian, E de Csilléry, I Baronaite, K Saar, A Białek, M Oeller, G Krainer, T Franzmann, S Wittmann, J Iglesias-Artola, G Invernizzi, A Hyman, S Alberti, N Lorenzen, T Knowles
(2024)
Solutes unmask differences in clustering versus phase separation of FET proteins.
M Kar, LT Vogel, G Chauhan, S Felekyan, H Ausserwöger, TJ Welsh, F Dar, AR Kamath, TPJ Knowles, AA Hyman, CAM Seidel, RV Pappu
– Nat Commun
(2024)
15,
4408
Polysaccharide functionalization reduces lipid vesicle stiffness
K Jahnke, M Pavlovic, W Xu, A Chen, TPJ Knowles, LR Arriaga, DA Weitz
– Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
(2024)
121,
e2317227121
Kinetic models reveal the interplay of protein production and aggregation.
J Wei, G Meisl, A Dear, M Oosterhuis, R Melki, C Emanuelsson, S Linse, TPJ Knowles
– Chemical science
(2024)
15,
8430
Pharmacological inhibition of α-synuclein aggregation within liquid condensates
ST Dada, Z Toprakcioglu, MP Cali, A Röntgen, MC Hardenberg, OM Morris, LK Mrugalla, TPJ Knowles, M Vendruscolo
– Nat Commun
(2024)
15,
3835
Maximum entropy determination of mammalian proteome dynamics.
AJ Dear, GA Garcia, G Meisl, GA Collins, TPJ Knowles, AL Goldberg
– Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(2024)
121,
e2313107121
Molecular mechanism of α-synuclein aggregation on lipid membranes revealed
AJ Dear, X Teng, SR Ball, J Lewin, RI Horne, D Clow, A Stevenson, N Harper, K Yahya, X Yang, SC Brewerton, J Thomson, TCT Michaels, S Linse, TPJ Knowles, J Habchi, G Meisl
– Chem Sci
(2024)
15,
7229
Tandem-repeat proteins introduce tuneable properties to engineered biomolecular condensates
TL Chris Ng, M Hoare, J Maristany, E Wilde, T Sneideris, J Huertas, B Agbetiameh, M Furukawa, J Joseph, TPJ Knowles, R Collepardo-Guevara, L Itzhaki, J Kumita
(2024)
Discovery of potent inhibitors of α-synuclein aggregation using structure-based iterative learning.
RI Horne, EA Andrzejewska, P Alam, ZF Brotzakis, A Srivastava, A Aubert, M Nowinska, RC Gregory, R Staats, A Possenti, S Chia, P Sormanni, B Ghetti, B Caughey, TPJ Knowles, M Vendruscolo
– Nat Chem Biol
(2024)
20,
634
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Research Interest Groups

Telephone number

01223 336344

Email address

tpjk2@cam.ac.uk