![Bart Hoogenboom](https://www.ismb.lon.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Bart-Hoogenboom-300x300.jpg)
Nanoscale biophysics
Bart Hoogenboom's research is in nanoscale biophysics, broadly centred on physical-chemical questions related to biology at a scale between single molecules and living cells. His core expertise is in atomic force microscopy (AFM). Using an extremely sharp tip, AFM allows us to scan a surface just like a blind person's fingertip reading Braille, “touching” and “feeling” single molecules and/or atoms. Mostly based on AFM, his research at UCL has led to the first visualisation of the DNA double helix and structural variations thereof in solution; the development of novel nanomechanical and computational approaches to understand transport selectivity into and out of the cell nucleus; the understanding of membrane disruption by peptides and pore forming proteins employed by bacteria and by the vertebrate immune system; and the discovery of phase separation at the surface of Gram-negative bacteria. Current research topics in his lab include modes of action of anticancer drugs, mechanisms by which immune cells can kill without being killed, and organisation of bacterial surfaces - and how these can be disrupted by broad-spectrum antibiotics. A common element in all his research projects is tight collaboration with other researchers and labs across disciplinary boundaries, both in academia and in industry.
![hoogenboom](https://www.ismb.lon.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/hoogenboom-1.png)
Selected publications
Phase separation in the outer membrane of Escherichia coli
Benn, G; Mikheyeva, IV; Inns, PG; Forster, JC; Ojkic, N; Bortolini, C; Ryadnov, MG; ... Hoogenboom, BW; + view all (2021) Phase separation in the outer membrane of Escherichia coli. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 118 (44) , Article e2112237118. 10.1073/pnas.2112237118.
Lipid order and charge protect killer T cells from accidental death
Rudd-Schmidt, JA; Hodel, AW; Noori, T; Lopez, JA; Cho, H-J; Verschoor, S; Ciccone, A; ... Voskoboinik, I; + view all (2019) Lipid order and charge protect killer T cells from accidental death. Nature Communications , 10 (1) , Article 5396. 10.1038/s41467-019-13385-x.
Single-molecule kinetics of pore assembly by the membrane attack complex
Parsons, ES; Stanley, GJ; Pyne, ALB; Hodel, AW; Nievergelt, AP; Menny, A; Yon, AR; ... Hoogenboom, BW; + view all (2019) Single-molecule kinetics of pore assembly by the membrane attack complex. Nature Communications , 10 , Article 2066. 10.1038/s41467-019-10058-7.