![Oliver Castell](https://profiles-cardiff.imgix.net/attachments/2900?w=200&h=200&auto=format&crop=faces&fit=crop&q=90")
Dr Oliver Castell
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Teams and roles for Oliver Castell
Reader in Engineering Biology
Overview
Oliver Castell is a Reader in Engineering Biology. His lab focusses on developing new technologies for the study of biology, and applying this knowledge, to create new soft-matter smart materials, inspired by biological systems.
His lab develop new technologies for the study of membrane proteins and using engineering biology principles, apply this knowledge to create new functional materials impacting biomedical sciences.
He is Scientific Lead of €3.3M EU Horizon EIC Pathfinder Project Bio-HhOST that is engineering advanced tissue models from live and artificial cells, and leads £1.6M BBSRC Mission Biology Award ALMOND that is developing a technology platform of bio-hybrid materials and artificial cells to enhance the protection and growth of crops.
Publication
2024
- Silver, K. L. et al. 2024. 3D-printed microfluidic-microwave device for droplet network formation and characterisation. Lab on a Chip 24, pp. 5101-5112. (10.1039/D4LC00387J)
- Dimitriou, P., Li, J., Jamieson, W. D., Schneider, J. J., Castell, O. K. and Barrow, D. A. 2024. Manipulation of encapsulated artificial phospholipid membranes using sub-micellar lysolipid concentrations. Communications Chemistry 7(1), article number: 120. (10.1038/s42004-024-01209-z)
- Dimitriou, P., Castell, O., Birchall, J. and Li, J. 2024. Label-free volumetric imaging of synthetic cell chassis using optical coherence tomography. Presented at: Cardiff University Engineering Research Conference 2023, Cardiff, UK, 12-14 July 2023 Presented at Spezi, E. and Bray, M. eds.Proceedings of the Cardif University Engineering Research Conference. Cardiff: Cardiff University Press pp. 15-18., (10.18573/conf1.e)
- Schneider, J. J. et al. 2024. Percolation breakdown in binary and ternary monodisperse and polydisperse systems of spherical particles. Presented at: Italian Workshop on Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation, Venice, 6-8 September 2023 Presented at Villani, M., Cagnoni, S. and Serra, R. eds.Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation. WIVACE 2023, Vol. 1977. Communications in Computer and Information Science Cham, Switzerland: Springer pp. 161-174., (10.1007/978-3-031-57430-6_13)
- Schneider, J. J. et al. 2024. Kauffman Model with spatially separated ligation and cleavage reactions. Presented at: Italian Workshop on Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation, Venice, 6-8 September 2023 Presented at Villani, M., Cagnoni, S. and Serra, R. eds.Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation. WIVACE 2023, Vol. 1977. Communications in Computer and Information Science Cham, Switzerland: Springer pp. 141-160., (10.1007/978-3-031-57430-6_12)
2023
- Nan, X. et al. 2023. VarLOCK: sequencing-independent, rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern for point-of-care testing, qPCR pipelines and national wastewater surveillance. Scientific Reports 13(1), article number: 20832. (10.1038/s41598-023-47289-0)
- Matuttis, H. et al. 2023. Computational investigation of the clustering of droplets in widening pipe geometries. Presented at: WIVACE 2022, XVI International Workshop on Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation, Gaeta, Italy, 14-16 September 2022 Presented at De Stefano, C., Fontanella, F. and Vanneschi, L. eds.WIVACE 2022. Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation, Vol. 1780. Communications in Computer and Information Science Cham, Switzerland: Springer pp. 82-93., (10.1007/978-3-031-31183-3_7)
- Schneider, J. J. et al. 2023. Artificial chemistry performed in an agglomeration of droplets with restricted molecule transfer. Presented at: WIVACE 2022, XVI International Workshop on Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation, Gaeta, Italy, 14-16 September 2022 Presented at De Stefano, C., Fontanella, F. and Vanneschi, L. eds.WIVACE 2022. Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation., Vol. 1780. Communications in Computer and Information Science Cham, Switzerland: Springer pp. 107-118., (10.1007/978-3-031-31183-3_9)
- Schneider, J. J. et al. 2023. Network creation during agglomeration processes of polydisperse and monodisperse systems of droplets. Communications in Computer and Information Science 1780, pp. 94-106. (10.1007/978-3-031-31183-3_8)
- Moukachar, A. et al. 2023. Development and evaluation of a low‐cost lego 3d bioprinter: from building‐blocks to building blocks of life. Advanced Materials Technologies 8(6), article number: 2100868. (10.1002/admt.202100868)
2022
- Baxani, D. K., Jamieson, W. D., Barrow, D. A. and Castell, O. K. 2022. Encapsulated droplet interface bilayers as a platform for high-throughput membrane studies. Soft Matter 18, pp. 5089-5096. (10.1039/D1SM01111A)
- Li, J. et al. 2022. Building programmable multicompartment artificial cells incorporating remotely activated protein channels using microfluidics and acoustic levitation. Nature Communications 13(1), article number: 4125. (10.1038/s41467-022-31898-w)
- Nan, X. et al. 2022. VarLOCK - sequencing independent, rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern for point-of-care testing, qPCR pipelines and national wastewater surveillance. [Online]. medRxix: (10.1101/2022.01.06.21268555) Available at: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.06.21268555v1
- Dimitriou, P., Li, J., Jamieson, W., Castell, O. and Barrow, D. 2022. Active content release from synthetic cell interior towards a novel drug delivery method. Presented at: MicroTAS 2022, Hangzhou, China, 23-27 October 2022.
2021
- Pope, J. R. et al. 2021. Association of fluorescent protein pairs and it's significant impact on fluorescence and energy transfer. Advanced Science 8(1), article number: 2003167. (10.1002/advs.202003167)
2020
- Hardinge, P., Baxani, D. K., McCloy, T., Murray, J. A. H. and Castell, O. K. 2020. Bioluminescent detection of isothermal DNA amplification in microfluidic generated droplets and artificial cells. Scientific Reports 10(1), article number: 21886. (10.1038/s41598-020-78996-7)
- Thomas, S. K. et al. 2020. Site-specific protein photochemical covalent attachment to carbon nanotube side walls and its electronic impact on single molecule function. Bioconjugate Chemistry 31(3), pp. 584-594. (10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.9b00719)
- Li, J., Baxani Kamal, D., Jamieson, W. D., Xu, W., Garcia Rocha, V., Barrow, D. A. and Castell, O. K. 2020. Formation of polarised, functional artificial cells from compartmentalised droplet networks and nanomaterials, using one-step, dual-material 3D-printed microfluidics. Advanced Science 7(1), article number: 1901719. (10.1002/advs.201901719)
- Li, J., Dimitriou, P., Castell, O. and Barrow, D. 2020. Generation of complex emulsions using monolithic, dual material 3D-printed microfluidic devices. Presented at: The 24th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (µTAS 2020), 4-9 October 2020. Cardiff:
2019
- Worthy, H. L. et al. 2019. Positive functional synergy of structurally integrated artificial protein dimers assembled by Click chemistry. Communications Chemistry 2, article number: 83. (10.1038/s42004-019-0185-5)
2018
- Castell, O. K., Dijkman, P. M., Wiseman, D. N. and Goddard, A. D. 2018. Single molecule fluorescence for membrane proteins. Methods 147, pp. 221-228. (10.1016/j.ymeth.2018.05.024)
- Dijkman, P. M., Castell, O. K., Goddard, A. D., Munoz-Garcia, J. C., de Graaf, C., Wallace, M. I. and Watts, A. 2018. Dynamic tuneable G protein-coupled receptor monomer-dimer populations. Nature Communications 9(1), article number: 1710. (10.1038/s41467-018-03727-6)
- Baxani, D. K., Jamieson, W. D., Barrow, D. A. and Castell, O. K. 2018. An encapsulated droplet interface bilayer array for the high-throughput optical measurement of lipid membranes with single bilayer resolution. Biophysical Journal 114(3), pp. 686A. (10.1016/j.bpj.2017.11.3699)
2017
- Baxani Kamal, D., Morgan, A. J., Li, J., Barrow, D. A. and Castell, O. 2017. The microfluidic manufacture of encapsulated droplet interface bilayers using a hybrid 3D-printed coaxial device. Presented at: 20th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (MicroTAS 2016), Dublin, Ireland, 9-13 October 2016Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (MicroTAS 2016). Red Hook, New York: Curran Associates, Inc.
- Li, J., Baxani Kamal, D., Castell, O. and Barrow, D. 2017. Formation of chemically responsive multisomes using droplet microfluidics. Presented at: 20th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (MicroTAS 2016), Dublin, Ireland, 9-13 October 2016Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (MicroTAS 2016). Red Hook, NY: Curran Associates, Inc.
2016
- Baxani, D. K., Morgan, A. J. L., Jamieson, W. D., Allender, C. J., Barrow, D. A. and Castell, O. K. 2016. Bilayer networks within a hydrogel shell: A robust chassis for artificial cells and a platform for membrane studies. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 55(46), pp. 14240-14245. (10.1002/anie.201607571)
- Morgan, A. J. L. et al. 2016. Simple and versatile 3D printed microfluidics using fused filament fabrication. PLoS ONE 11(4), article number: e0152023. (10.1371/journal.pone.0152023)
2015
- Huang, S., Romero-Ruiz, M., Castell, O. K., Bayley, H. and Wallace, M. I. 2015. High-throughput optical sensing of nucleic acids in a nanopore array. Nature Nanotechnology 10, pp. 986-991. (10.1038/nnano.2015.189)
2013
- Leptihn, S. et al. 2013. Constructing droplet interface bilayers from the contact of aqueous droplets in oil. Nature Protocols 8(6), pp. 1048-1057. (10.1038/nprot.2013.061)
2012
- Castell, O. K., Berridge, J. and Wallace, M. I. 2012. Quantification of membrane protein inhibition by optical ion flux in a droplet interface bilayer array. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition 51(13), pp. 3134-3138. (10.1002/anie.201107343)
2011
- Castell, O. K., Barrow, D. A., Kamarudin, A. K. and Allender, C. J. 2011. Current practices for describing the performance of molecularly imprinted polymers can be misleading and may be hampering the development of the field. Journal of Molecular Recognition 24(6), pp. 1115-1122. (10.1002/jmr.1161)
- Gross, L. C. M., Castell, O. K. and Wallace, M. I. 2011. Dynamic and reversible control of 2D membrane protein concentration in a droplet interface bilayer. Nano Letters 11(8), pp. 3324-3328. (10.1021/nl201689v)
- Barrow, D. A., Castell, O. K., Sykes, N., Myers, P. and Ritchie, H. 2011. A microfabricated graphitic carbon column for high performance liquid chromatography. Journal of Chromatography A 1218(15), pp. 1983-1987. (10.1016/j.chroma.2010.11.086)
2009
- Castell, O. K., Allender, C. J. and Barrow, D. A. 2009. Liquid-liquid phase separation: characterisation of a novel device capable of separating particle carrying multiphase flows. Lab on a Chip 9(3), pp. 388-396. (10.1039/b806946h)
- Allender, C. J., Castell, O. K., Davies, P. R., Fiddy, S., Hedin-Dahlström, J. A. C. and Stockenhuber, M. 2009. A glimpse of the inner workings of the templated site. Chemical Communications 2009(2), pp. 165-167. (10.1039/b811578h)
2008
- Castell, O. K., Allender, C. J. and Barrow, D. A. 2008. Continuous molecular enrichment in microfluidic systems. Lab on a Chip 8(7), pp. 1031-1033. (10.1039/b800521d)
- Castell, O. K. 2008. Microfluidic devices for continuous liquid-liquid-solid chemical extractions.. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
2006
- Castell, O. K., Allender, C. J. and Barrow, D. A. 2006. Novel biphasic separations utilising highly selective molecularly imprinted polymers as biorecognition solvent extraction agents. Biosensors and bioelectronics 22(4), pp. 526-533. (10.1016/j.bios.2006.07.017)
Articles
- Silver, K. L. et al. 2024. 3D-printed microfluidic-microwave device for droplet network formation and characterisation. Lab on a Chip 24, pp. 5101-5112. (10.1039/D4LC00387J)
- Dimitriou, P., Li, J., Jamieson, W. D., Schneider, J. J., Castell, O. K. and Barrow, D. A. 2024. Manipulation of encapsulated artificial phospholipid membranes using sub-micellar lysolipid concentrations. Communications Chemistry 7(1), article number: 120. (10.1038/s42004-024-01209-z)
- Nan, X. et al. 2023. VarLOCK: sequencing-independent, rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern for point-of-care testing, qPCR pipelines and national wastewater surveillance. Scientific Reports 13(1), article number: 20832. (10.1038/s41598-023-47289-0)
- Schneider, J. J. et al. 2023. Network creation during agglomeration processes of polydisperse and monodisperse systems of droplets. Communications in Computer and Information Science 1780, pp. 94-106. (10.1007/978-3-031-31183-3_8)
- Moukachar, A. et al. 2023. Development and evaluation of a low‐cost lego 3d bioprinter: from building‐blocks to building blocks of life. Advanced Materials Technologies 8(6), article number: 2100868. (10.1002/admt.202100868)
- Baxani, D. K., Jamieson, W. D., Barrow, D. A. and Castell, O. K. 2022. Encapsulated droplet interface bilayers as a platform for high-throughput membrane studies. Soft Matter 18, pp. 5089-5096. (10.1039/D1SM01111A)
- Li, J. et al. 2022. Building programmable multicompartment artificial cells incorporating remotely activated protein channels using microfluidics and acoustic levitation. Nature Communications 13(1), article number: 4125. (10.1038/s41467-022-31898-w)
- Pope, J. R. et al. 2021. Association of fluorescent protein pairs and it's significant impact on fluorescence and energy transfer. Advanced Science 8(1), article number: 2003167. (10.1002/advs.202003167)
- Hardinge, P., Baxani, D. K., McCloy, T., Murray, J. A. H. and Castell, O. K. 2020. Bioluminescent detection of isothermal DNA amplification in microfluidic generated droplets and artificial cells. Scientific Reports 10(1), article number: 21886. (10.1038/s41598-020-78996-7)
- Thomas, S. K. et al. 2020. Site-specific protein photochemical covalent attachment to carbon nanotube side walls and its electronic impact on single molecule function. Bioconjugate Chemistry 31(3), pp. 584-594. (10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.9b00719)
- Li, J., Baxani Kamal, D., Jamieson, W. D., Xu, W., Garcia Rocha, V., Barrow, D. A. and Castell, O. K. 2020. Formation of polarised, functional artificial cells from compartmentalised droplet networks and nanomaterials, using one-step, dual-material 3D-printed microfluidics. Advanced Science 7(1), article number: 1901719. (10.1002/advs.201901719)
- Worthy, H. L. et al. 2019. Positive functional synergy of structurally integrated artificial protein dimers assembled by Click chemistry. Communications Chemistry 2, article number: 83. (10.1038/s42004-019-0185-5)
- Castell, O. K., Dijkman, P. M., Wiseman, D. N. and Goddard, A. D. 2018. Single molecule fluorescence for membrane proteins. Methods 147, pp. 221-228. (10.1016/j.ymeth.2018.05.024)
- Dijkman, P. M., Castell, O. K., Goddard, A. D., Munoz-Garcia, J. C., de Graaf, C., Wallace, M. I. and Watts, A. 2018. Dynamic tuneable G protein-coupled receptor monomer-dimer populations. Nature Communications 9(1), article number: 1710. (10.1038/s41467-018-03727-6)
- Baxani, D. K., Jamieson, W. D., Barrow, D. A. and Castell, O. K. 2018. An encapsulated droplet interface bilayer array for the high-throughput optical measurement of lipid membranes with single bilayer resolution. Biophysical Journal 114(3), pp. 686A. (10.1016/j.bpj.2017.11.3699)
- Baxani, D. K., Morgan, A. J. L., Jamieson, W. D., Allender, C. J., Barrow, D. A. and Castell, O. K. 2016. Bilayer networks within a hydrogel shell: A robust chassis for artificial cells and a platform for membrane studies. Angewandte Chemie International Edition 55(46), pp. 14240-14245. (10.1002/anie.201607571)
- Morgan, A. J. L. et al. 2016. Simple and versatile 3D printed microfluidics using fused filament fabrication. PLoS ONE 11(4), article number: e0152023. (10.1371/journal.pone.0152023)
- Huang, S., Romero-Ruiz, M., Castell, O. K., Bayley, H. and Wallace, M. I. 2015. High-throughput optical sensing of nucleic acids in a nanopore array. Nature Nanotechnology 10, pp. 986-991. (10.1038/nnano.2015.189)
- Leptihn, S. et al. 2013. Constructing droplet interface bilayers from the contact of aqueous droplets in oil. Nature Protocols 8(6), pp. 1048-1057. (10.1038/nprot.2013.061)
- Castell, O. K., Berridge, J. and Wallace, M. I. 2012. Quantification of membrane protein inhibition by optical ion flux in a droplet interface bilayer array. Angewandte Chemie - International Edition 51(13), pp. 3134-3138. (10.1002/anie.201107343)
- Castell, O. K., Barrow, D. A., Kamarudin, A. K. and Allender, C. J. 2011. Current practices for describing the performance of molecularly imprinted polymers can be misleading and may be hampering the development of the field. Journal of Molecular Recognition 24(6), pp. 1115-1122. (10.1002/jmr.1161)
- Gross, L. C. M., Castell, O. K. and Wallace, M. I. 2011. Dynamic and reversible control of 2D membrane protein concentration in a droplet interface bilayer. Nano Letters 11(8), pp. 3324-3328. (10.1021/nl201689v)
- Barrow, D. A., Castell, O. K., Sykes, N., Myers, P. and Ritchie, H. 2011. A microfabricated graphitic carbon column for high performance liquid chromatography. Journal of Chromatography A 1218(15), pp. 1983-1987. (10.1016/j.chroma.2010.11.086)
- Castell, O. K., Allender, C. J. and Barrow, D. A. 2009. Liquid-liquid phase separation: characterisation of a novel device capable of separating particle carrying multiphase flows. Lab on a Chip 9(3), pp. 388-396. (10.1039/b806946h)
- Allender, C. J., Castell, O. K., Davies, P. R., Fiddy, S., Hedin-Dahlström, J. A. C. and Stockenhuber, M. 2009. A glimpse of the inner workings of the templated site. Chemical Communications 2009(2), pp. 165-167. (10.1039/b811578h)
- Castell, O. K., Allender, C. J. and Barrow, D. A. 2008. Continuous molecular enrichment in microfluidic systems. Lab on a Chip 8(7), pp. 1031-1033. (10.1039/b800521d)
- Castell, O. K., Allender, C. J. and Barrow, D. A. 2006. Novel biphasic separations utilising highly selective molecularly imprinted polymers as biorecognition solvent extraction agents. Biosensors and bioelectronics 22(4), pp. 526-533. (10.1016/j.bios.2006.07.017)
Conferences
- Dimitriou, P., Castell, O., Birchall, J. and Li, J. 2024. Label-free volumetric imaging of synthetic cell chassis using optical coherence tomography. Presented at: Cardiff University Engineering Research Conference 2023, Cardiff, UK, 12-14 July 2023 Presented at Spezi, E. and Bray, M. eds.Proceedings of the Cardif University Engineering Research Conference. Cardiff: Cardiff University Press pp. 15-18., (10.18573/conf1.e)
- Schneider, J. J. et al. 2024. Percolation breakdown in binary and ternary monodisperse and polydisperse systems of spherical particles. Presented at: Italian Workshop on Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation, Venice, 6-8 September 2023 Presented at Villani, M., Cagnoni, S. and Serra, R. eds.Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation. WIVACE 2023, Vol. 1977. Communications in Computer and Information Science Cham, Switzerland: Springer pp. 161-174., (10.1007/978-3-031-57430-6_13)
- Schneider, J. J. et al. 2024. Kauffman Model with spatially separated ligation and cleavage reactions. Presented at: Italian Workshop on Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation, Venice, 6-8 September 2023 Presented at Villani, M., Cagnoni, S. and Serra, R. eds.Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation. WIVACE 2023, Vol. 1977. Communications in Computer and Information Science Cham, Switzerland: Springer pp. 141-160., (10.1007/978-3-031-57430-6_12)
- Matuttis, H. et al. 2023. Computational investigation of the clustering of droplets in widening pipe geometries. Presented at: WIVACE 2022, XVI International Workshop on Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation, Gaeta, Italy, 14-16 September 2022 Presented at De Stefano, C., Fontanella, F. and Vanneschi, L. eds.WIVACE 2022. Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation, Vol. 1780. Communications in Computer and Information Science Cham, Switzerland: Springer pp. 82-93., (10.1007/978-3-031-31183-3_7)
- Schneider, J. J. et al. 2023. Artificial chemistry performed in an agglomeration of droplets with restricted molecule transfer. Presented at: WIVACE 2022, XVI International Workshop on Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation, Gaeta, Italy, 14-16 September 2022 Presented at De Stefano, C., Fontanella, F. and Vanneschi, L. eds.WIVACE 2022. Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation., Vol. 1780. Communications in Computer and Information Science Cham, Switzerland: Springer pp. 107-118., (10.1007/978-3-031-31183-3_9)
- Dimitriou, P., Li, J., Jamieson, W., Castell, O. and Barrow, D. 2022. Active content release from synthetic cell interior towards a novel drug delivery method. Presented at: MicroTAS 2022, Hangzhou, China, 23-27 October 2022.
- Li, J., Dimitriou, P., Castell, O. and Barrow, D. 2020. Generation of complex emulsions using monolithic, dual material 3D-printed microfluidic devices. Presented at: The 24th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (µTAS 2020), 4-9 October 2020. Cardiff:
- Baxani Kamal, D., Morgan, A. J., Li, J., Barrow, D. A. and Castell, O. 2017. The microfluidic manufacture of encapsulated droplet interface bilayers using a hybrid 3D-printed coaxial device. Presented at: 20th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (MicroTAS 2016), Dublin, Ireland, 9-13 October 2016Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (MicroTAS 2016). Red Hook, New York: Curran Associates, Inc.
- Li, J., Baxani Kamal, D., Castell, O. and Barrow, D. 2017. Formation of chemically responsive multisomes using droplet microfluidics. Presented at: 20th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (MicroTAS 2016), Dublin, Ireland, 9-13 October 2016Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences (MicroTAS 2016). Red Hook, NY: Curran Associates, Inc.
Thesis
- Castell, O. K. 2008. Microfluidic devices for continuous liquid-liquid-solid chemical extractions.. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University.
Websites
- Nan, X. et al. 2022. VarLOCK - sequencing independent, rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern for point-of-care testing, qPCR pipelines and national wastewater surveillance. [Online]. medRxix: (10.1101/2022.01.06.21268555) Available at: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.06.21268555v1
Research
Research in the lab is at the intersection of the biological and physical sciences and concerns the development and application of new techniques to help unravel the complexity of living systems.
From single molecules in minimal model systems to measurements in complex cells and tissues, the creative application of Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Engineering can shed light on biological systems to answer important questions with far-reaching implications for medicine, bio-technology and our fundamental understanding of the world around us.
In turn, we are interested in applying this knowledge to the development of new materials and tools inspired by biology. By shaping our capability to engineer at the molecular level and by harnessing biological elements and principles, the development of new, smart, soft and dynamic materials will have many important applications in areas such as therapeutics, bioelectronics, sensing, chemical computing and synthetic cells.
The Cell Membrane
Of particular interest is the cell membrane and how membrane components such as lipids and proteins function and their spontaneous organisation in response to their environment. The complexity of emergent function that arises from the membrane and its components is a source of both fascination and inspiration.
Tools and Technologies
Dynamic Single Molecule imaging is a principle technique in the laboratory. We build custom laser microscopy systems to allow us to see beyond ensemble behaviour and characterise the dynamics of individual events. With these approaches we have revealed new insights into mechanisms of GPCR dimerisation, as well as imaging of ion-channel function and the characterisation of novel bio-hybrid materials for linking protein function to solid state electronics.
We use microfluidics and micro-engineering to manipulate and define conditions on the micro-scale, creating enabling tools for microscopy, high-throughput processes and the formation of membrane-based artificial cells.
Artificial Cells
Informed by the fundamental understanding generated in the lab we have developed compartmentalised, membrane-based, artificial cells suitable for application outside the laboratory. By reconstituting functional membrane proteins, biochemical metabolisms, and augmenting with synthetic elements, we aim to engineer dynamic and responsive function for their use as next-generation functional materials. An emerging technology with potential to transform many sectors and help address global challenges, we are currently developing these materials for application in tissue engineering, medicine and food security, as well as their use in fundamental research.
Projects
Major projects in the lab include:
Current €3.3M EU Horizon EIC Pathfinder Project Bio-HhOST that is engineering advanced tissue models from live and artificial cells where Oliver Castell serves as Scientific Lead.
Oliver Castell leads £1.6M UKRI/BBSRC Engineering Biology Mission Award ALMOND that is developing a technology platform of bio-hybrid materials and artificial cells to enhance the protection and growth of crops.
Recently concluded €4M EU Horizon 2020 Future Emerging Technologies Project ACDC – Artificial Cells with Distributed Cores to Decipher Protein Function – that focussed on the development of functional artificial cell architectures. Oliver Castell served as Work Package Lead and latterly, Scientific Lead.
Collaboration
We work closely with academic collaborators from a range of disciplines in our research and are always keen to think of exciting ways to solve problems, answer pertinent biological questions and develop new tools and technologies. Please get in touch if you are interested in collaborating with us.
Supporting Fellowships, Scholarships and Visiting Researchers
We are always keen to support and host talented researchers who are interested in joining the lab. Please do get in touch if you are looking for a supportive host for postdoctoral fellowship, PhD scholarship or self-funded postgraduate opportunities, or to visit as a visiting researcher.
Please see here for a comprehensive (but non-exhaustive) list of fellowship opportunities.
Teaching
I lead the Final Year Research Projects module and teach across all four years of Cardiff’s professionally accredited MPharm programme.
Contact Details
CastellO@cardiff.ac.uk
+44 29208 76241
Redwood Building, Room 2.57B, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3NB
+44 29208 76241
Redwood Building, Room 2.57B, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3NB
Research themes
Specialisms
- Single Molecule Science
- Artificial Cells
- Membrane Proteins and Membrane Biology
- Synthetic biology
- soft matter and droplet microfluidics
