Professor Chris Holland

BA, MSc, D.Phil

School of Chemical, Materials and Biological Engineering

Professor of 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
Sir Robert Hadfield Building

Full contact details

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

I enjoy undertaking original research into natural materials, in particular silk where I have pioneered the field of silk rheology (i.e. spinning) for the last 20 years. I lead the , which I grew whilst holding an  and being principle coordinator of FLIPT, a large European consortium as part of a H2020 FET Open project. 

I am currently Chair of the . For a decade I was an Associate Editor for and also the Chair of the . 

Previously I was at Oxford where I 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

2018 Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

2020 Fellow of the Institute of Materials Mining and Mineralogy

Research interests

My research uses tools developed for the physical sciences to better understand natures materials, from latex to collagen but with a focus on silk. By investigating unspun silks flow properties I have 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 led to a fundamentally new way of designing, testing and fabricating bio-inspired materials.

I have an  and ~17% of my >70 original articles are in field-leading journals (such as Nature Materials x1, Advanced Materials x3, Advanced Functional Materials x1, Nature Communications x4, Small Structures x1, Science Advances x1, Advanced Healthcare Materials x1, Materials Today Advances x1). Three of my outputs are ranked in the global top 5% of all academic publications (>24M articles) by Altmetric for wider impact (i.e. media citations). To date my associated grant portfolio has been in excess of 瞿24M.

Publications

Journal articles

  • Ghosh D, Huang R, Mahmoudi N, Matthews L, Patterson C, Holland C, Vassalli M & Adams DJ (2025) . Molecular Systems Design & Engineering.
  • Zaki M, Rajkhowa R, Holland C, Razal JM, Hegh DY & Allardyce BJ (2025) . ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering.
  • Zaki M, Rajkhowa R, Holland C, Razal JM, Hegh DY, MotaSantiago P, Lynch P & Allardyce BJ (2025) . Advanced Materials, 37(15).
  • Hughes JC, Wilson JA, Hawkins N, Zhang Y, Holland C & Slark AT (2025) . European Polymer Journal, 229, 113881-113881.
  • Zaki M, Rajkhowa R, Holland C, Razal JM, Hegh DY, MotaSantiago P, Lynch P & Allardyce BJ (2025) . Advanced Materials, 37(15).
  • Moreno-Tortolero RO, Michalski J, Wells E, Gibb F, Skaer N, Walker R, Serpell L, Holland C & Davis SA (2024) . Communications Materials, 5(1).
  • Moreno-Tortolero RO, Luo Y, Parmeggiani F, Skaer N, Walker R, Serpell LC, Holland C & Davis SA (2024) . Communications Biology, 7(1).
  • Ghosh D, Coulter SM, Laverty G, Holland C, Doutch JJ, Vassalli M & Adams DJ (2024) . Biomacromolecules, 25(5), 3169-3177.
  • Ledesma EB & Holland C (2024) . Journal of Molluscan Studies, 90(1).
  • Wan Q, Farr NTH, Li P, Batey D, Rau C, Rodenburg J, Lu L, Laity PR, Xu Z, Holland C , Rodenburg C et al (2024) . Small Structures, 5(4).
  • Barajas-Ledesma E & Holland C (2023) . Frontiers in Soft Matter, 3.
  • Nohl JF, Farr NTH, Sun Y, Hughes GM, Stehling N, Zhang J, Longman F, Ives G, Pokorn獺 Z, Mika F , Kumar V et al (2023) . Materials Today Advances, 19.
  • Laity PR, Dunderdale G, Mykhaylyk OO & Holland C (2023) . Biomacromolecules, 24(6), 2828-2846.
  • Giubertoni G, Caporaletti F, Roeters SJ, Chatterley AS, Weidner T, Laity P, Holland C & Woutersen S (2022) . Biomacromolecules, 23(12), 5340-5349.
  • Arakawa K, Kono N, Malay AD, Tateishi A, Ifuku N, Masunaga H, Sato R, Tsuchiya K, Ohtoshi R, Pedrazzoli D , Shinohara A et al (2022) . Science Advances, 8(41).
  • Chatterley AS, Laity P, Holland C, Weidner T, Woutersen S & Giubertoni G (2022) . Molecules, 27(19).
  • Arndt T, Jaudzems K, Shilkova O, Francis J, Johansson M, Laity PR, Sahin C, Chatterjee U, Kronqvist N, Barajas-Ledesma E , Kumar R et al (2022) . Nature Communications, 13(1).
  • Chen Y-M, Zang L-S, Koc-Bilican B, Bilican I, Holland C, Cansaran-Duman D, Karaduman T, olak A, Bay覺r Y, Halici Z , Ozmen S et al (2022) . ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 10(18), 5728-5738.
  • White B, Kempka R, Laity P, Holland C, Six K, Trummer G, Buckley-Johnstone L & Lewis R (2022) . Tribology Letters, 70(1).
  • Laity PR & Holland C (2022) . Molecules, 27(2).
  • Young RJ, Holland C, Shao Z & Vollrath F (2021) . MRS Bulletin, 46(10), 915-924.
  • Wan Q, Yang M, Hu J, Lei F, Shuai Y, Wang J, Holland C, Rodenburg C & Yang M (2021) . Nature Communications, 12(1).
  • Koeppel A, Stehling N, Rodenburg C & Holland C (2021) . Advanced Functional Materials, 31(30).
  • Avella I, Barajas-Ledesma E, Casewell NR, Harrison RA, Rowley PD, Crittenden E, W羹ster W, Castiglia R, Holland C & van der Meijden A (2021) . Journal of Experimental Biology, 224(7).
  • Greco G, Mastellari V, Holland C & Pugno NM (2021) . Perspectives on Science, 29(2), 133-156.
  • Schaefer C, Laity PR, Holland C & McLeish TCB (2021) . Molecules, 26(6).
  • Arndt T, Laity PR, Johansson J, Holland C & Rising A (2021) . ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 7(2), 462-471.
  • Koeppel A, Laity PR & Holland C (2020) . Acta Biomaterialia, 117, 204-212.
  • Greving I, Terry AE, Holland C, Boulet-Audet M, Grillo I, Vollrath F & Dicko C (2020) . Biomacromolecules, 21(8), 3387-3393.
  • Fraternali F, Stehling N, Amendola A, Tiban Anrango BA, Holland C & Rodenburg C (2020) . Nanomaterials, 10(8).
  • Atkinson F, Evans R, Guest JE, Bavin EP, Cacador D, Holland C & Guest DJ (2020) . Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, 14(5), 690-700.
  • Schaefer C, Laity PR, Holland C & McLeish TCB (2020) . Macromolecules, 53(7), 2669-2676.
  • Brif A, Laity P, Claeyssens F & Holland C (2020) . ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 6(1), 705-714.
  • Holland C, Hawkins N, Frydrych M, Laity P, Porter D & Vollrath F (2019) . Macromolecular Bioscience, 19(3).
  • Laity PR, Baldwin E & Holland C (2019) . Macromolecular Bioscience, 19(3).
  • Postulkova H, Nedomova E, Hearnden V, Holland C & Vojtova L (2019) . Materials Research Express, 6(3).
  • Stehling NA, Abrams KJ, Holland C & Rodenburg C (2019) . Frontiers in Materials, 5.
  • Holland C, Numata K, Rnjak-Kovacina J & Seib FP (2019) . Advanced Healthcare Materials, 8(1).
  • Sparkes J & Holland C (2019) . Macromolecular Bioscience, 19(3).
  • Koeppel A, Laity PR & Holland C (2018) . Soft Matter, 14(43), 8838-8845.
  • Stehling NA, Masters R, Zhou Y, O'Connell R, Holland C, Zhang H & Rodenburg C (2018) . MRS Communications, 8(2), 226-240.
  • Shimanovich U, Pinotsi D, Shimanovich K, Yu N, Bolisetty S, Adamcik J, Mezzenga R, Charmet J, Vollrath F, Gazit E , Dobson CM et al (2018) . Macromolecular Bioscience, 18(4).
  • Sparkes J & Holland C (2018) . Acta Biomaterialia, 69, 234-242.
  • Wan Q, Abrams K, Masters R, Talari ACS, Rehman IU, Claeyssens F, Holland C & Rodenburg C (2017) . Advanced Materials, 29(47).
  • Sparkes J & Holland C (2017) . Nature Communications, 8(1).
  • Kwak HW, Ju JE, Shin M, Holland C & Lee KH (2017) . Biomacromolecules, 18(8), 2343-2349.
  • Shimanovich U, Ruggeri FS, De Genst E, Adamcik J, Barros TP, Porter D, M羹ller T, Mezzenga R, Dobson CM, Vollrath F , Holland C et al (2017) . Nature Communications, 8.
  • Koeppel A & Holland C (2017) . ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering, 3(3), 226-237.
  • Laity PR & Holland C (2017) . European Polymer Journal.
  • Laity PR & Holland C (2016) . International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 17(11).
  • Boulet-Audet M, Holland C, Gheysens T & Vollrath F (2016) . Biomacromolecules, 17(10), 3198-3204.
  • Offord C, Vollrath F & Holland C (2016) . Journal of Materials Science, 1-10.
  • Laity PR & Holland C (2016) . Biomacromolecules.
  • Guan J, Wang Y, Mortimer B, Holland C, Shao Z, Porter D & Vollrath F (2016) . Soft Matter, 12(27), 5926-5936.
  • Castro AP, Laity P, Shariatzadeh M, Wittkowske C, Holland C & Lacroix D (2016) . Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine, 27(4), 79.
  • Burdick J, Holland C, Kaplan D & Radisic M (2016) . ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 2(2), 141-141.
  • Mortimer B, Holland C, Windmill JF & Vollrath F (2015) . Interface, 12(113).
  • Boulet-Audet M, Vollrath F & Holland C (2015) . Journal of Experimental Biology, 218(19), 3138-3149.
  • Walker AA, Holland C & Sutherland TD (2015) . Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 282(1809).
  • Laity PR, Holland C & Gilks SE (2015) . Polymer, 67, 28-39.
  • Mortimer B, Guan J, Holland C, Porter D & Vollrath F (2015) . Acta Biomaterialia, 11, 247-255.
  • Burdick J, Holland C, Radisic M & Kaplan DL (2015) . ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, 1(1), 1-1.
  • Mortimer B, Gordon SD, Holland C, Siviour CR, Vollrath F & Windmill JFC (2014) . Adv Mater, 26(30), 5179-5183.
  • Vollrath F, Hawkins N, Porter D, Holland C & Boulet-Audet M (2014) . Sci Rep, 4, 5625.
  • Holland C, Vollrath F & Gill HS (2014) . Naturwissenschaften, 1-4.
  • Bauer G, Friedrich C, Gillig C, Vollrath F, Speck T & Holland C (2014) . Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 11(90).
  • Boulet-Audet M, Terry AE, Vollrath F & Holland C (2014) . Acta Biomaterialia.
  • Drodge DR, Mortimer B, Siviour CR & Holland C (2014) . Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series, 4, 75-77.
  • Boulet-Audet M, Terry AE, Vollrath F & Holland C (2013) . Acta Biomaterialia.
  • Mortimer B, Holland C & Vollrath F (2013) . Biomacromolecules, 14(10), 3653-3659.
  • Mortimer B, Drodge DR, Dragnevski KI, Siviour CR & Holland C (2013) . Journal of Materials Science, 48(14), 5055-5062.
  • Vollrath F, Porter D & Holland C (2013) . MRS Bulletin, 38(1), 73-80.
  • Drodge DR, Mortimer B, Siviour CR & Holland C (2012) . EPJ Web of Conferences, 26.
  • Mortimer B, Drodge D, Siviour C & Holland C (2012) . Journal of Biomechanics, 45, S86-S86.
  • Holland C, Urbach JS & Blair DL (2012) . Soft Matter, 8(9), 2590-2594.
  • Holland C, O'Neil K, Vollrath F & Dicko C (2012) . Biopolymers, 97(6), 368-373.
  • Holland C, Porter D & Vollrath F (2012) . Biopolymers, 97(6), 362-367.
  • Chaudhury S, Holland C, Thompson MS, Vollrath F & Carr AJ (2012) . Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery, 21(9), 1168-1176.
  • Drodge DR, Mortimer B, Holland C & Siviour CR (2012) . Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 60(10), 1710-1721.
  • Holland C, Vollrath F, Ryan AJ & Mykhaylyk OO (2012) . Advanced Materials, 24(1), 105-109.
  • Kingdon J, Agwanda B, Kinnaird M, O'Brien T, Holland C, Gheysens T, Boulet-Audet M & Vollrath F (2012) . Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences, 279(1729), 675-680.
  • Boulet-Audet M & Holland C (2011) The African crested rat's poisonous hairs studied by attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy. Spectroscopy Europe, 23(6), 10-12.
  • Chaudhury S, Holland C, Vollrath F & Carr AJ (2011) . Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery Series B, 93 B(7), 942-948.
  • Vollrath F, Porter D & Holland C (2011) . SOFT MATTER, 7(20), 9595-9600.
  • Boulet-Audet M, Vollrath F & Holland C (2011) . Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 13(9), 3979-3984.
  • Chaudhury S, Holland C, Porter D, Tirlapur UK, Vollrath F & Carr AJ (2011) . Journal of Orthopaedic Research, 29(12), 1938-1943.
  • Chaudhury S, Holland C, Vollrath F & Carr A (2010) . Injury Extra, 41(12), 162-162.
  • Chaudhury S, Holland C, Vollrath F & Carr AJ (2010) . Injury Extra, 41(12), 161-162.
  • Holland C (2009) Eight legs good!. TCE(815), 24-26.
  • Mo C, Holland C, Porter D, Shao Z & Vollrath F (2009) . Biomacromolecules, 10(10), 2724-2728.
  • Holland C, Terry AE, Porter D & Vollrath F (2007) . Polymer, 48(12), 3388-3392.
  • Holland C, Terry AE, Porter D & Vollrath F (2006) . Nature Materials, 5(11), 870-874.
  • Hughes JC, Wilson JA, Hawkins N, Zhang Y, Holland C & Slark AT () . ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering.
  • Zhang YH, Plaut AS, Weis J, Harbison JP, Florez LT, Holland MC & Stanley CR () . Physical Review B, 68(7).

Book chapters

  • Holland C (2024) , Silk-Based Biomaterials for Tissue Engineering, Regenerative and Precision Medicine (pp. 3-8). Elsevier
  • Holland C (2018) , Designing with Natural Materials (pp. 321-334). CRC Press
  • Mortimer B & Holland C (2015) , Advances in Silk Science and Technology (pp. 233-260).
  • Woods A & Holland C (2015) , Biomedical Textiles for Orthopaedic and Surgical Applications Fundamentals Applications and Tissue Engineering (pp. 1-22).
  • Woods A & Holland C (2015) , Biomedical Textiles for Orthopaedic and Surgical Applications (pp. 1-22). Elsevier
  • Mortimer B & Holland C (2015) , Advances in Silk Science and Technology (pp. 233-260). Elsevier
  • Abbott A, Ellison M, Teul矇 F, Lewis RV, Marcotte WR, Abbott AG, Harcum SW, Teul矇 F, Holland C, Vollrath F , Santulli C et al (2008) , Biologically Inspired Textiles (pp. xi-xii). Elsevier
  • Holland C & Vollrath F (2008) Biomimetic principles of spider silk for high performance fibres In Ellison MS & Abbott AG (Ed.), Biologically Inspired Textiles Cambridge, UK: Woodhead Publishing.

Conference proceedings

  • Amendola A, Sigh N, Rodenburg C, Holland C & Fraternali F (2021) . Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Computational Methods in Structural Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering (COMPDYN 2015) (pp 1834-1839), 28 June 2021 - 30 June 2021.
  • 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)
  • Hamad SF, Stehling N, Holland C, Foreman JP & Rodenburg C (2017) . Procedia Engineering, Vol. 200. Braga, Portugal, 21 June 2017 - 21 June 2017.
  • 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)
  • Brif A, Holland C & Claeyssens F (2015) Light-based Bioprinting of Native Silk. TISSUE ENGINEERING PART A, Vol. 21 (pp S339-S339)
  • 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)

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.
  • Holland C, Carter R, Scott L & Vollrath F (2012) Non-woven silk materials and methods for manufacture thereof. WO 2012172085 Appl. 30 Mar 2012.
  • 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.

Datasets

  • Koeppel A, Laity P & Holland C .
  • Sparkes J & Holland C .
  • Laity P & Holland C .
  • Laity P, Baldwin E & Holland C .
  • Sparkes J & Holland C .

Preprints

  • Adams DJ, Ghosh D, Huang R, Mahmoudi N, Matthews L, Patterson C, Holland C & Vassalli M (2025) , American Chemical Society (ACS).
  • Moreno-Tortolero RO, Michalski J, Wells E, Gibb F, Skaer N, Walker R, Serpell L, Holland C & Davis S (2024) , Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
  • Giubertoni G, Caporaletti F, Roeters S, Chatterley AS, Weidner T, Laity P, Holland C & Woutersen S (2022) , Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
Research group

Professional activities and memberships

Associate Editor

Chairperson

Links