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Michaelides Lab
Professor Michel Michaelides’ team have been integral to UCL Institute of Ophthalmology’s (IOO) significant ongoing contribution to the understanding of inherited retinal degenerative diseases over the last 14 years, in terms of clinical characterisation, genotype-phenotype correlations, structure-function associations, advanced high-resolution quantitative retinal imaging, and the underlying molecular genetics both in terms of identification of novel genes and also characterising the mutation spectrum and prevalence in known genes. In addition, Professor Michaelides’ group has made notable contributions to the literature relating to the management of diabetic macular oedema, which has informed clinical practice.
Professor Michaelides has established an Adaptive Optics Scanning Laser Ophthalmoscope (AOSLO) at the IoO - the only one of its kind outside of the USA. This is game-changing — placing us at the cutting edge of ocular imaging, enabling us to undertake the world’s first gene therapy trial aiming to rescue cone photoreceptor cells (with potential implications for all causes of retinal blindness — by far the commonest cause of blindness in the developed world), and has helped to establish national and international collaborations.
Professor Michaelides has over 150 peer-reviewed publications and 18 book chapters on retinal disease. My ResearchGate score (40.90) is higher than 97.5% of ResearchGate members (7,700 members from UCL alone). My UCL provided h-index is 25 (Scopus) and 24 (Web of Science (Lite). My Google Scholar h-index is 30, i10-index of 75, with 3015 citations in total. Professor Michaelides has established both national (58 co-authors at UCL) and international collaborations, including with Professoressors Joe Carroll and Alfredo Dubra (USA) who are world leaders in Adaptive Optics imaging of the eye, and Professoressor Richard Weleber (USA) who is a leading developer of advanced visual field analysis. Professor Michaelides has nine ongoing ethically approved studies, including a multi-centre international natural history study, with seven of these studies adopted onto the NIHR portfolio and attracting significant accruals. Professor Michaelides is also actively involved in retinal clinical trials investigating novel and established therapies, being a principal investigator in four ongoing clinical trials, including the world’s first ocular stem cell therapy trial. The current active research grants received total over £12,000,000 and include funding from the MRC, Wellcome Trust, NIHR, Foundation Fighting Blindness (USA), NIH NEI, and Fight For Sight.
This aforementioned body of work has improved advice on prognosis and genetic counselling, identified the underlying molecular genetic basis of multiple isolated and syndromic disorders, shed light on mechanisms of disease, identified potential novel therapeutic targets, and provided data that will be valuable for current and future therapeutic interventions.
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