Affiliation: University of Alberta, Department of Medical Genetics

Nicole C. L. Noel MSc is a PhD candidate in the Department of Medical Genetics at the University of Alberta, Canada. She studies photoreceptor biology and disease with a focus on ocular genetics and disease modelling. In her past work, she characterized photoreceptor-photoreceptor connectivity in the zebrafish retina and assessed how these connections changed between early development and adulthood. Currently, she researches molecular mechanisms underlying inherited photoreceptor degenerations, utilizing zebrafish to model photoreceptor disease. She has identified novel genetic associations with inherited retinal dystrophies and generated a zebrafish model of retinitis pigmentosa with subretinal lipid deposits.