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

Determination of Polypeptide Conformation with Nanoscale Resolution in Water.
G Ramer, FS Ruggeri, A Levin, TPJ Knowles, A Centrone
ACS nano
(2018)
12
Identification and nanomechanical characterization of the fundamental single-strand protofilaments of amyloid α-synuclein fibrils.
FS Ruggeri, F Benedetti, TPJ Knowles, HA Lashuel, S Sekatskii, G Dietler
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(2018)
115
Origin of metastable oligomers and their effects on amyloid fibril self-assembly
F Hasecke, T Miti, C Perez, J Barton, D Schölzel, L Gremer, CSR Grüning, G Matthews, G Meisl, TPJ Knowles, D Willbold, P Neudecker, H Heise, G Ullah, W Hoyer, M Muschol
Chem Sci
(2018)
9
On the role of sidechain size and charge in the aggregation of Aβ42 with familial mutations
X Yang, G Meisl, B Frohm, E Thulin, TPJ Knowles, S Linse
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
(2018)
115
Kinetic Analysis of Amyloid Formation.
G Meisl, TCT Michaels, S Linse, TPJ Knowles
Methods in Molecular Biology
(2018)
1779
Cooperative Assembly of Hsp70 Subdomain Clusters.
MA Wright, FA Aprile, MMJ Bellaiche, TCT Michaels, T Müller, P Arosio, M Vendruscolo, CM Dobson, TPJ Knowles
Biochemistry
(2018)
57
Budding-like division of all-aqueous emulsion droplets modulated by networks of protein nanofibrils
Y Song, TCT Michaels, Q Ma, Z Liu, H Yuan, S Takayama, TPJ Knowles, HC Shum
Nature Communications
(2018)
9
C-terminal truncation of α-synuclein promotes amyloid fibril amplification at physiological pH.
IM van der Wateren, TPJ Knowles, AK Buell, CM Dobson, C Galvagnion
Chem Sci
(2018)
9
Reaction rate theory for supramolecular kinetics: application to protein aggregation
TCT Michaels, LX Liu, S Curk, PG Bolhuis, A Šarić, TPJ Knowles
Molecular Physics
(2018)
116
Rapid Growth of Acetylated Aβ(16–20) into Macroscopic Crystals
C Bortolini, LH Klausen, SV Hoffmann, NC Jones, D Saadeh, Z Wang, TPJ Knowles, M Dong
ACS nano
(2018)
12

Co-Director

Research Interest Groups

Telephone number

01223 336344

Email address