Rachael Pearson is Professor of Developmental Neuroscience, recently forming the new KCL Centre for Cell and Gene Therapy together with her long-standing collaborator, Professor Robin Ali. The main focus of Rachael’s research is the development of cell therapy for the treatment of retinal disorders. She has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers with several landmark papers and preclinical proof-of-concept studies. Pearson & Ali provided the first proof of concept for effective transplantation of photoreceptors (Nature 2006; Nature, 2012; Nature Communications, 2016) that has provided the basis for ES cell-derived photoreceptor transplantation, now a major programme in their laboratory (Nature Biotech 2013; Stem Cell Reports, 2017a,b; Cell Reports 2021a). Complememtary to this main programme of research, Rachael has strong interests in retinal development and degeneration and how these respective processes may be harnessed for improving regenerative therapies such as transplantation and endogenous repair (e.g. Neuron, 2018, GLIA, 2021; Cell Reports, 2021b; EMBO Reports 2021).

Rachael has received several awards for her work on developing new treatments for retinal degeneration, including a Royal Society University Research Fellowship, several Young Investigator Awards and an Alcon Research Institute Award. She was recently elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Biologists.