- B426, Portland Square, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA
- +44 1752 586093
- oliver.tills@plymouth.ac.uk

Profiles
Dr Oliver Tills
Senior Research Fellow
School of Biological and Marine Sciences (Faculty of Science and Engineering)
- Climate change
- Artificial intelligence
- Marine biology
- 3D printing
- Developmental ecophysiology
- Embryonic development
- Phenomics
- High content screening
Email publicrelations@plymouth.ac.uk to enquire.
Biography
Biography
UKRI Future Leaders Research Fellow in the School of Biological and Marine Science
Qualifications
- PhD Marine Science
- MRes Marine Biology
- BSc Marine Biology and Coastal Ecology
Professional membership
Dr Tills is a professional member of:
- Society for Experimental Biology
- Physiological Society
- Genetics Society
- British Science Association
- European Evolutionary Developmental Biology Society
Roles on external bodies
Dr Tills is a peer reviewer for:
- BBSRC
- UKRI
- Animal Behaviour
- Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology
- Ecotoxicology
- Fish Biology
- Journal of Medical and Biological Imaging
- Marine Biology Research
- Marine Genomics
- Freshwater Biology
Teaching
Teaching
Teaching interests
Dr Tills teaches across various programmes and modules running within the School of Biological and Marine Sciences, in addition to supervision of both undergraduate and postgraduate research project students.
These include:
MBIO120 Introduction to Marine Biology
MBIO001 Issues in Marine Biology
BIOL212 Environmental Cell Physiology
MBIO313 Personal Research
MBAM5106 Advanced Research in Marine Biology
MBIO222 Ecophysiology of Marine Animals
MBIO223-5 Methods in Marine Biology
MBIO221 Marine Molecular Biology
GEES001 Study and Mathematical Skills for Science
MBIO123 Marine Biology Field Course
Research
Research
Research interests
James McCoy (3rd supervisor) - Using novel phenomics technology for environmental sensitivity prediction in species of marine invertebrates.
Publications
Publications
Key publications
Key publications are highlighted
JournalsCollins M, Tills O, Turner LM, Clark MS, Spicer JI, Truebano. 2018. Moderate reductions in dissolved oxygen may compromise performance in an ecologically-important estuarine invertebrate. Science of the Total Environment, 693:133444.
Tills O, Spicer JI, Grimmer A, Marini S, Jie VW, Tully E, Rundle SD. 2018. A high-throughput and open-source platform for embryo phenomics. PLoS Biology, 16:e3000074.
Tills O, Truebano M, Feldmeyer B, Pfenninger M, Morgenroth H, Schell T, et al. 2018. Transcriptomic responses to predator kairomones in embryos of the aquatic snail Radix balthica. Ecology and Evolution. 201831:79–12.
Truebano M, Fenner P, Tills O, Rundle SD, Rezende EL. 2018. Thermal strategies vary with life history stage. Journal of Experimental Biology 221: jeb171629–5.
Truebano M, Tills O, Collins M, Clarke C, Shipsides E, Wheatley C, et al. 2018. Short-term acclimation in adults does not predict offspring acclimation potential to hypoxia. Scientific Reports, 8:1-9.
Schell T, Feldmeyer B, Schmidt H, Greshake B, Tills O, Truebano M, Rundle SD, Paule S, Ebersberger I, Pfenninger M 2017. An annotated draft genome for Radix auricularia (Gastropoda, Mollusca). Genome Biology and Evolution 9: 585-592.
Tills O, Sun X, Rundle SD, Heimbach T, Gibson T, Cartwright A, Palmer M, Rudin-Bitterli T & Spicer JI 2016. Reduced pH affects pulsing behavior and body size in ephrae of the moon jellyfish, Aurelia aurita. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology 480: 54-61.
Truebano M, Tills O & Spicer JI 2016. Embryonic transcriptome of the brackishwater amphipod Gammarus chevreuxi. Marine Genomics 28: 5-6
Tills O, Truebano M & Rundle SD 2015. An embryonic transcriptome of the pulmonate snail Radix balthica. Marine Genomics 24: 259-260.
Rudin-Bitterli TS, Tills O, Spicer JI, Culverhouse PF, Wielhouwer EM, Richardson MK & Rundle SD 2014. Combining motion analysis and microfluidics – A novel approach for detecting whole- animal responses to test substances. PloS ONE 9: e113235.
Tills O, Bitterli T, Culverhouse P, Spicer JI & Rundle SD 2013. A novel application of motion analysis for detecting stress responses in embryos at different stages of development. BMC Bioinformatics 14: 37.
Tills O, Rundle SD & Spicer JI 2013. Variance in developmental event timing is greatest at low biological levels: implications for heterochrony. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 110: 581-590.
Tills O, Rundle SD & Spicer JI 2013. Parent-offspring similarity in the timing of developmental events: an origin of heterochrony? Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 280: 1769.
Spicer JI, Rundle SD & Tills O 2011. Studying the altered timing of physiological events during development: It’s about time, or is it? Respiratory Physiology and Neurobiology 178: 3-12.
Tills O, Rundle SD, Culverhouse P, Spicer JI & Bitterli TS 2011. Method and system for determining characteristics of an embryo and uses thereof. Patent, World Intellectual Property Organization.
Tills O, Rundle SD, Salinger M, Haun T, Pfenninger M & Spicer JI 2011. A genetic basis for intraspecific differences in developmental timing? Evolution and Development 13: 542-548.
Tills O, Spicer JI & Rundle SD 2010. Salinity-induced heterokairy in an upper-estuarine population of the snail Radix balthica. Aquatic Biology 9: 95-105.
- Spicer JI, Tills O, Truebano M, Rundle SD. 2018. Developmental Plasticity and Heterokairy. Book Chapter In: Development and Environment, Springer, Switzerland. Eds: Burggren W, Dubansky B.
Hardware and software for visualising, quantifying and studying developing embryos: https://github.com/otills/embryophenomics
Tills O, Rundle SD, Culverhouse P, Spicer JI & Bitterli TS 2011. Method and system for determining characteristics of an embryo and uses thereof. Patent, World Intellectual Property Organization.
Personal
Personal
Conferences organised
Society for Experimental Biology 2019 Annual Meeting, Seville. Session organiser: Bioimaging as a means to discovery and learning
Other academic activities
- New Scientist website – http://newscientist.com/article/dn24078-timelapse-footage-shows-snail-embryo-in-high-geat.html
- Reuters Innovations - http://www.reuters.com/video/2013/10/16/bio-imaging-system-spawns-new-theories-o?videoId=274050528
- Phys.org – http://phys.org/news/2013-08-bio-imaging-technology-peers-heart-embryo.html- Txchnologist – http://txchnologist.com/post/58930740096/time-lapse-videos-of-aquatic-embryos-give-insight- Technology.org – http://www.technology.org/2013/08/21/new-bio-imaging-technology-peers-into-the-heart-of-embryo-development/
- VisEmbryo.com - http://visembryo.com/story1750.html
- TheKidsShouldSeeThis.org - http://www.thekidshouldseethis.com/post/61420552160
- 2012 Forms Most Beautiful, Plymouth Museum -https://www.flickr.com/photos/plymouthmuseums/sets/72157629329837350
- 2013 - Peninsula Gallery, PU – Transpositions – an exhibit based around the innovative use of video to explore the role of environmental perturbations during the course of an organism’s development - http://www.deborah-robinson.net/transpositions.- 2012 - Portland Square Building, University of Plymouth – Atria – an interactive exhibit combining sound and video to explore the changes an embryo undergoes in its cardiac function during the developmental process - http://www.davidstrang.co.uk/atria.html.Links
http://vimeo.com/channels/embryonicdevelopment
Videos of developing aquatic embryos produced in our lab
http://www.embryophenomics.org
A technological platform I have led the development of for quantifying the phenome of aquatic embryos. It consists of:
- OpenVIM http://www.openvim.org. An open-source video microscope
- EmbryoCV http://www.embryocv.org. A high-throughput Python package for automated quantification of complex developmental traits.