Nicole C. L. Noel, PhD

Dr. Nicole Noel is a postdoctoral fellow at University College London’s Institute of Ophthalmology. Dr. Noel is an ocular geneticist and photoreceptor biologist; she obtained her PhD in medical genetics from University of Alberta in Canada, studying inherited photoreceptor degenerations and modelling disease in zebrafish. During her PhD, she identified novel genetic associations with photoreceptor disease in patients and developed a zebrafish retinopathy model. This was the first zebrafish model of photoreceptor degeneration with reported subretinal deposits, an age-related macular degeneration-like manifestation. Dr. Noel’s current research aims to characterise the biological processes underlying age-related retinal disease and identify potential treatments by utilising killifish, a model of accelerated ageing.