Departmental homepageTuomas Knowles is the 1920 Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Cambridge. He studied Biology at the University of Geneva, and Physics at ETH Zurich and obtained his PhD working at the Cavendish Laboratory and the Nanoscience Centre in Cambridge. In 2008 he was elected to a Research Fellowship at St John’s College, and was then appointed to a University Lectureship in Physical Chemistry in 2010, joining the faculty at the Department of Chemistry. He then successively held a University Readership between 2013 and 2015 and a Professorship since 2015 in the Department of Chemistry. In 2023 he was elected to the 1920 Chair of Physical Chemistry at Cambridge. He has published over 400 papers, has an h-index of over 100 and has been named Highly Cited Researcher by the Web of Science. He is the recipient of multiple international prizes, including the Sackler Prize for Biophysics and the Corday-Morgan Prize from the Royal Society of Chemistry.
He has taught Physical Chemistry across all years in the Natural Sciences Tripos.
Professor Knowles and his research group develop new approaches to probe the fundamental behaviour of biological molecules. A particular focus is protein self-assembly, the processes by which proteins come together to form the molecular machinery of life. Much of the group’s efforts in this area are focused on understanding aberrant protein self-assembly that underlies neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Knowles is also interested in controlling the self-assembly of natural proteins to generate new types of functional materials. His research group works collaboratively with colleagues in academia and industry, and is particularly interested in addressing problems with important technological and societal implications. Research in the group has led to the discovery of novel technologies and several start-up companies have emerged from their work.
Biomimetic peptide self-assembly for functional materials, Nature Reviews Chemistry (2020)
The amyloid state and its association with protein misfolding diseases, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology (2014)
Amyloid formation as a protein phase transition, Nature Reviews Physics (2023)
