Dr Chris Holland

BA, MSc, D.Phil

School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering

Senior Lecturer in Natural Materials

Chair of IOM3 Natural Materials Association

Profile photo of Dr Chris Holland
Profile picture of Profile photo of Dr Chris Holland
christopher.holland@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 5477

Full contact details

Dr Chris Holland
School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering
Sir Robert Hadfield Building
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
Profile

Chris joined the department at the start of 2013 as head of the Natural Materials Group, holding an EPSRC Early Career Fellowship. After this he then went onto co-ordinating FLIPT, a large European consortia as part of a H2020 FET Open project and has been promoted to a Senior Lecturer.

Outside of the lab he is an associate editor for ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering and also the Chair of the Natural Materials Association.

Previously he was at Oxford where he undertook his BA in Biological Sciences, MSc in Integrative Biosciences, D. Phil and later a Fellowship By Examination (a.k.a JRF) whilst working in the Oxford Silk Group.

Qualifications

2000-2003 BA(Hons) Biological Sciences, University of Oxford

2003-2004 MSc Integrative Biosciences, University of Oxford

2004-2008 D.Phil Silk Rheology, University of Oxford

Research interests

Chris’ research uses tools developed for the physical sciences to better understand nature’s materials, from latex to collagen but with a focus on silk. By investigating unspun silk’s flow properties he has been able to gain unique insights into their biodiversity, structure and evolution. Additionally, this work has made important links between natural and industrial fibre processing which has lead to a fundamentally new way of designing, testing and fabricating bio-inspired materials.

Today he combines multiple instruments with rheology, from microscopes (confocal) and spectrometers (IR) to synchrotrons (SANS at ISIS and SAXS/WAXS at ESRF) in order to understand exactly how silk proteins arrange themselves into one of Nature’s most impressive materials.

Publications

Journal articles

Chapters

Conference proceedings papers

  • Amendola A, Sigh N, Rodenburg C, Holland C & Fraternali F (2021) A mesoscale tensegrity model of spider dragline silk fiber. COMPDYN Proceedings, Vol. 2021-June RIS download Bibtex download
  • White B, Laity P, Holland C, Six K, Trummer G & Lewis R (2018) Iron oxide and water paste rheology and its effect on low adhesion in the wheel/rail interface. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Contact Mechanics and Wear of Rail/wheel Systems, CM 2018 (pp 1084-1089) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Hamad SF, Stehling N, Holland C, Foreman JP & Rodenburg C (2017) Low-Voltage SEM of Natural Plant Fibers: Microstructure Properties (Surface and Cross-Section) and their Link to the Tensile Properties. Procedia Engineering, Vol. 200 (pp 295-302) View this article in WRRO RIS download Bibtex download
  • Holland C & Woods A (2015) Turning a Silk Purse into a Sow's Ear: The Importance of Processing When using Silk in Regenerative Medicine. TISSUE ENGINEERING PART A, Vol. 21 (pp S65-S65) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Brif A, Holland C & Claeyssens F (2015) Light-based Bioprinting of Native Silk. TISSUE ENGINEERING PART A, Vol. 21 (pp S339-S339) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Mortimer B, Siviour CR, Holland C & Vollrath F (2014) Multipurpose spider silks: the implications of web impact on vibration signalling. INTEGRATIVE AND COMPARATIVE BIOLOGY, Vol. 54 (pp E147-E147) RIS download Bibtex download

Patents

  • Holland C, Shimanovich U, Vollrath F & Knowles TPJ (2014) A method for Microfluidic processing of native silk into microgels for long-term storage of aggregation sensitive molecules. Appl. 02 Apr 2014. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Holland C, Carter R, Scott L & Vollrath F (2012) Non-woven silk materials and methods for manufacture thereof. WO 2012172085 Appl. 30 Mar 2012. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Holland C, Knight DK, Skaer N, Gheysens T & Collins A (2008) Cartilage repair material and a method for the preparation thereof. GB0807868.5 (UK). Appl. 30 Apr 2008. RIS download Bibtex download

Datasets

Preprints

Research group

Please refer to the Natural Materials Group website.

Professional activities and memberships

Associate Editor ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering

Chairperson Natural Materials Association