Jennifer McManus

Professor Jennifer McManus serves as Professor and Head of School of Physics at the University of Bristol, where she leads research at the intersection of physics, biology, and chemistry. With a BSc and PhD, she has established herself as a prominent figure in soft matter physics and biological physics, particularly in protein science. She also holds a position as Visiting Associate Professor at University College Dublin's School of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering since September 2020.

Her research focuses on how proteins, peptides, and other macromolecules assemble into condensed phases such as crystals, amorphous aggregates, gels, and fibers. She investigates how inter-molecular protein-protein interactions relate to assembly processes, with particular interest in how anisotropic protein-protein interactions direct protein assembly. Her work utilizes protein phase diagrams to measure and understand this behavior, while also exploring the rational design of protein-based materials, mechanical properties of protein gels and tissues, and protein formulation and stability.

Analysis of her 43 research outputs reveals a strong focus on liquid-liquid phase separation of proteins, membrane protein crystallization, and peptide assembly. Her recent work (2023-2025) demonstrates leadership in de novo protein design, particularly in creating membraneless organelles and understanding phase separation phenomena. Her research bridges fundamental biophysics with potential applications in synthetic biology and therapeutic development.

• BBSRC International Institutional Award 2022 (Principal Investigator, Nov 2022-Mar 2023)
• RAMP - Marie Curie ITN Project (Principal Investigator, Oct 2020-Aug 2021)

Professor McManus leads the Quantum & Soft Matter research group at Bristol, with research themes spanning Soft Matter, Biological Physics, Protein and Peptide Self-Assembly, Bottom-up Synthetic Biology, Cavitation, and Rheology. Her fingerprint analysis shows strong activity in Solution and Solubility (100%), Crystallin (54%), Lipid (35%), and Phase Separation (25%) research areas. Her work has generated significant interest with multiple datasets hosted on Zenodo related to membraneless organelle assembly and has been disseminated through 36 journal articles, 4 book chapters, and other scholarly outputs.