McManus group

• Professor Jennifer McManus

  Professor of Physics

Biography

I completed my BSc and PhD degrees in Chemistry at University College Dublin working on the assembly and structure of non-cytotoxic DNA - lipid complexes for use in non-viral gene delivery. During my PhD, I spent 7 months at the Max Planck Insitute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany, where I learned to use small-angle x-ray scattering to characterise the complexes. Following my PhD, I changed my research topic and became interested in protein phase diagrams and protein assembly as postdoctoral researcher in Switzerland and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in the group of Prof. George Benedek.  After almost 4 years in the US, I returned to Maynooth University in Ireland as a Science Foundation Ireland Stokes Lecturer where I established a research group in Soft Matter and Biophysical chemistry. I was promoted to Associate Professor in 2016 and served as Head of Department from 2017 to 2020. I joined the School of Physics at the University of Bristol in 2020. 

Research Interests & Activities

I am a soft -matter scientist interested in the self-assembly of biological macromolecules. My research aims to understand how inter-molecular protein interactions direct protein assembly to form crystals, gels and demixed liquids.

We are interested in how and why proteins, peptides and other macromolecules assemble into condensed phases such as crystals, amorphous aggregates, gels and fibers. We aim to understand how inter-molecular protein-protein interactions relate to the assembly process. We are particularly interested in how anisotropic protein-protein interactions direct protein assembly. We use protein phase diagrams to measure and understand this behaviour. We are also interested in the rational design of protein based materials, in the mechanical properties of protein gels and tissues and in the formulation and stability of proteins.

Current projects include, liquid-liquid phase separation of proteins, membrane protein crystallization, peptide assembly and protein formulation and stability

Current researchers and PhD students