Georg Krainer

Dr Georg Krainer

Dipl-Biochem Dr rer nat

Georg is a Marie Curie and Herchel Smith Fellow at the Department of Chemistry and a Junior Research Fellow at Wolfson College.

Georg Krainer

Georg's research explores the chemistry and physics of life. Much of his work is focussed on understanding the structural dynamics, interactions, and physical properties of proteins, and their links to human health and disease.

He is a Research Fellow at the Department of Chemistry in the group of Prof. Tuomas P.J. Knowles and part of the Cambridge Centre for Misfolding Diseases and the Centre for Experimental Biophysical Chemistry.

Georg has backgrounds in the Physical and Life Sciences, holding a first-class honours degree in Biochemistry and a PhD summa cum laude in Biophysics. He received several awards for his scientific achievements including a Doctoral Thesis Prize and the William F. Giauque Memorial Award. His research is supported by two prestigious Fellowships: the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship from the European Union and the Herchel Smith Research Fellowship from the University of Cambridge.

Georg joined Wolfson College as Junior Research Fellow in Biological Chemistry & Biophysics in April 2020.

Georg’s research is highly multidisciplinary and brings together ideas and tools from Chemistry and Physics to study the dynamics, interactions, and physical properties of proteins and other biomolecules. He is particularly interested in protein folding and self-assembly, the fundamental processes by which proteins come together to form the molecular machinery of life.

Much of his work is focussed on the basic science underlying protein misfolding and aggregation, damaging aspects of protein behaviour that lie at the heart of a wide range of human disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease as well as Cystic Fibrosis. More recently Georg has become interested in the phenomena by which proteins assemble into liquid-like biomolecular condensates via phase separation. His research in this area focusses on understanding the physical and chemical aspects of protein phase behaviour, and the factors that control them. 

Last but not least, a key area of Georg’s research is the development of novel physical tools for quantitative protein science and biophysics. Developments in this space include single-molecule optical methods, micro- and nanoscale lab-on-a-chip technologies, and novel sensing platforms for biomolecular analysis and diagnostics.

[photo by Gabriella Bocchetti].