Dr. Jennifer Mcmanus

Biography

Professor Jennifer McManus is a soft-matter scientist with a focus on the self-assembly of biological macromolecules. Her research aims to understand intermolecular protein interactions and how they influence protein assembly into forms such as crystals, gels, and demixed liquids. She has extensive experience in both academic and research settings, having completed her BSc and PhD degrees in Chemistry from University College Dublin, where she initially explored the assembly structure of non-cytotoxic DNA-lipid complexes for non-viral gene delivery. During her PhD, she spent seven months at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany, learning to use small-angle x-ray scattering to characterize complexes. Afterward, she shifted her focus to protein phase diagrams and assembly during her postdoctoral tenure at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under Professor George Benedek. In 2020, she joined the School of Physics at the University of Bristol, where she currently leads a research group in Soft Matter Biophysical Chemistry. Her current projects include liquid-liquid phase separation of proteins, membrane protein crystallization, and peptide assembly in relation to the stability of protein formulations.

Research Interests

Experience