Staff profile
Prof Tom McLeish, FInstP, FRS
Member of the Biophysical Sciences Institute
Member of the Centre for Materials Physics
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) in the Vice-Chancellor's Office
Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) (pvc.research@durham.ac.uk), Vice-Chancellor's Office
Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 46051
(email at pvc.research@durham.ac.uk)
Biography
For PVC (Research) business please use the email pvc.research@durham.ac.uk or contact my PA, Mrs Dianne Kirkby, at dianne.kirkby@durham.ac.uk, telephone +44 (0)191 334 6051.
For Physics business please use the email t.c.b.mcleish@durham.ac.uk.
Research Interests
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Soft Condensed Matter Physics
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Biological Physics
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Polymer Molecular Rheology
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Theology of Science
Molecular Rheology of Entangled Polymer Fluids
My group has been persuing a multidisciplinary programme with the goal to connect the fundamental physics of entanglement at the molecular level to the emergent viscoelasticity and flow behaviour (rheology) of polymeric fluids. A particular theme has been “long-chain branched” polymers. Since 1999 this research has been framed within the large EPSRC/Industry Microscale Polymer Processing (MuPP) collaboration.
Biological Physics of Protein Dynamics, Self-assembly and Evolution
The theme here is thermal motion, statistical mechanics and noise in biological processes. With biologists and biochemists we are unravelling allosteric signalling in proteins and processes in amyloid fibril assembly. I have advocated a high-dimensional view of protein folding, and a “genotype-phenotype” model of evolutionary landscapes. This work takes place in the Durham Biophysical Sciences Institute (BSI).
Medieval Science – the Ordered Universe Project
Within the Durham Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (IMRS) we are reexamining scientific thinking in the 12th-14th centuries. Close reading of works by teams of medieval scholars and scientists gives new insights into the vital but overlooked foundations of modern science.
Theology and Science
A long-term project “Faith in Science” looks at the theological expression of ancient proto-scientific thinking, and aims to bring long-lived narratives to bear on current issues in science and technology.
Soft Matter, Complex Fluids and Biological Physics
My colleagues and I are interested in rich behaviour of structured fluids such as polymer solutions and melts, self-assembled matter, and in the physics of biological systems. My own work is mostly theoretical, but almost always in close collaboration with experiment,
and often across industry-university teams. I am Director of the Durham Centre for Soft Matter, a multidisciplinary centre encompassing physics, chemistry, mathematics and engineering. My work as PVC-R at Durham supports other interests in the essential unity of the academic enterprise, and in interdisciplinary research. The history of ideas, the science-theology nexus and societal engagment with science has involved me in projects in all three faculties at Durham.
Research Groups
Selected Publications
Journal papers: academic
- Hoyle, D. M., Huang, Q., Auhl, D., Hassell, D., Rasmussen, H. K., Skov, A. L., Harlen, O. G., Hassager, O. & McLeish, T. C. B. (2013). Transient overshoot extensional rheology of long-chain branched polyethylenes: Experimental and numerical comparisons between filament stretching and cross-slot flow. Journal of rheology 57(1): 293-313.
- Smithson, Hannah E., Dinkova-Bruun, Greti, Gasper, Giles E. M., Huxtable, Mike, McLeish, Tom C. B. & Panti, Cecilia (2012). A three-dimensional color space from the 13th century. Journal of the Optical Society of America A: optics, image science and vision 29(2): A346-A352.
- Hutchings, Lian R., Kimani, Solomon M., Hoyle, David M., Read, Daniel J., Das, Chinmay, McLeish, Thomas C. B., Chang, Taihyun, Lee, Hyojoon & Auhl, Dietmar (2012). Correction to In Silico Molecular Design, Synthesis, Characterization, and Rheology of Dendritically Branched Polymers: Closing the Design Loop (vol 1, pg 404, 2012). ACS macro letters 1(6): 742.
- Hutchings, Lian R., Kimani, Solomon M., Hoyle, David M., Read, Daniel J., Das, Chinmay, McLeish, Thomas C. B., Chang, Taihyun, Lee, Hyojoon & Auhl, Dietmar (2012). In Silico Molecular Design, Synthesis, Characterization, and Rheology of Dendritically Branched Polymers: Closing the Design Loop. ACS macro letters 1(3): 404-408.
- Nayak, Kapileswar, Read, Daniel J., McLeish, Tom C.B., Hine, Peter J. & Tassieri, Manlio (2011). A Coarse-Grained Molecular Model of Strain-Hardening for Polymers in the Marginally Glassy State. Journal of Polymer Science Part B: Polymer Physics 49(13): 920-938.
- Schuetz, Peter, Greenall, Martin J., Bent, Julian, Furzeland, Steve, Atkins, Derek, Butler, Michael F., McLeish, Tom C.B. & Buzza, D. Martin A. (2011). Controlling the micellar morphology of binary PEO-PCL block copolymers in water-THF through controlled blending. Soft Matter 7(2): 749-759.
- Greenall, Martin J., Schuetz, Peter, Furzeland, Steve, Atkins, Derek, Buzza, D. Martin A., Butler, Michael F. & McLeish, Tom C.B. (2011). Controlling the Self-Assembly of Binary Copolymer Mixtures in Solution through Molecular Architecture. Macromolecules 44(13): 5510-5519.
- Auhl, D. Hoyle, D.M. Hassell, D. Lord, T.D. Mackley, M.R. Harlen, O.G. & McLeish, T.C.B. (2011). Cross-slot extensional rheometry and the steady-state extensional response of long chain branched polymer melts. Journal of Rheology 55(4): 875-900.
- Read, Daniel J., Auhl, Dietmar, Das, Chinmay, den Doelder, Jaap, Kapnistos, Michael, Vittorias, Iakovos & McLeish, Tom C. B. (2011). Linking Models of Polymerization and Dynamics to Predict Branched Polymer Structure and Flow. Science 333(6051): 1871-1874.
- Rodgers, Thomas, Burnell, David, Wilson, Mark R., Pohl, Ehmke, Cann, Martin, Townsend, Philip D., McLeish, Tom C. B. & Toncrova, Hedvika (2011). Modelling allosteric signalling in protein homodimers. European Biophysics Journal with Biophysics Letters 40(1 Supplement): 121.
- Hassell, David Geraint, Lord, T. D., Scelsi, L., Klein, D. H., Auhl, D., Harlen, O. G., McLeish, T. C. B. & Mackley, M. R. (2011). The effect of boundary curvature on the stress response of linear and branched polyethylenes in a contraction-expansion flow. Rheologica Acta 50(7-8): 675-689.
- Clarke, N., De Luca, E., Buxton, G., Hutchings, L.R., Gough, T., Grillo, I., Graham, R.S., Jagannathan, K., Klein, D.H. & McLeish, T.C.B. (2010). Chain Deformation in Entangled Polymer Melts at Re-entrant Corners. Macromolecules 43(3): 1539-1542.
- Khatri, Bhavin, Yew, Zu Thur, Krivov, Sergei, McLeish, Tom & Paci, Emanuele (2010). Fluctuation power spectra reveal dynamical heterogeneity of peptides. Journal of Chemical Physics 133(1): 015101
- Toncrova, Hedvika & McLeish, Tom C.B. (2010). Substrate-Modulated Thermal Fluctuations Affect Long-Range Allosteric Signaling in Protein Homodimers: Exemplified in CAP. Biophysical journal 98(10): 2317-2326.
- Hassell, D.G., Embery, J., McLeish, T.C.B. & Mackley, M.R. (2009). An experimental evaluation of the formation of an instability in monodisperse and polydisperse polystyrenes. Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics 157(1-2): 1-14.
- Hassell, D.G., Hoyle, D., Auhl, D., Harlen, O., Mackley, M.R. & McLeish, T.C.B. (2009). Effect of branching in cross-slot flow: the formation of ``W cusps''. Rheologica Acta 48(5): 551-561.
- Auhl, Dietmar, Chambon, Pierre, McLeish, Tom C.B. & Read, Daniel J. (2009). Elongational Flow of Blends of Long and Short Polymers: Effective Stretch Relaxation Time. Physical review letters 103(13): 136001
- Yew, Z.T. McLeish, T.C.B. & Paci, E. (2008). New Dynamical Window onto the Landscape for Forced Protein Unfolding. Physical Review Letters 101(24): 248104
- Wei, W. Ma, G.H. Hu, G. McLeish, T.C.B., Su, Z.G. & Shen, Z.Y. (2008). Preparation of Hierarchical Hollow CaCO3 Particles and the Application as Anticancer Drug Carrier. Journal of the American Chemical Society 130(47): 15808-15810.