Dr. Christopher Cartmell is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Arizona. His research focuses on bioactive natural product discovery leveraging microfluidic approaches for high-throughput screening. Dr. Cartmell earned his undergraduate degree at Bangor University before undertaking a PhD at the University of St Andrews working with Professor Rebecca Goss. He was awarded a Mitacs Postdoctoral Fellowship and worked with then-Tier 1 Canada Research Chair Dr. Russell Kerr at the University of Prince Edward Island. After a brief period working with Professor Kim Lewis at Northeastern University’s Antimicrobial Discovery Center, he joined the University of Arizona.

Research Interests

Dr. Cartmell’s research is centered on the discovery and development of novel therapeutics derived from natural products, with a particular focus on extremophilic microbes sourced from underexplored environments such as marine ecosystems and arid desert biomes. His lab integrates microfluidic droplet technologies to cultivate previously unculturable microbial species and screen their metabolites against cancer-relevant targets. This droplet-based screening platform enables access to microbial dark matter and silent biosynthetic gene clusters. His work combines natural product chemistry, microbiology, and medicinal chemistry approaches to uncover structurally unique compounds for oncology, infectious disease, and non-opioid pain therapeutics.