Seminars

Proteins are the active molecules of life and in order to perform their functions, they have to interact with each-other. Many fundamental processes underpinning biological function have been understood as interactions between soluble proteins; it has become apparent, however, that proteins can access a very broad range of states, including both solid and liquid condensed phases. This talk outlines our efforts to characterize the transitions between these phases from a physicochemical point of view. A particular focus will be on protein aggregation and its links to protein misfolding diseases, as well as the role of liquid precursor states in this process.

Tuomas Knowles studied Biology at the University of Geneva, and Physics at ETH Zurich. He moved to Cambridge in 2004 to work towards his PhD in the Cavendish Laboratory and the Nanoscience Centre. In 2008 he was elected to a Research Fellowship at St John's College, Cambridge, and was then appointed to a University Lectureship in Physical Chemistry in 2010, joining the faculty at the Department of Chemistry in Cambridge. He then successively held a University Readership between 2013 and 2015 and a Professorship since 2015 in the Department of Chemistry. Since 2016 he is Professor of Physical Chemistry and Biophysics in the Department of Chemistry and at the Cavendish Laboratory, and is co-director of the Cambridge Centre for Protein Misfolding Diseases in Cambridge.

https://www-knowles.ch.cam.ac.uk/