Rate My Professor Noémie Hamilton

Noémie Hamilton is a Lecturer in Neuroimmunology in the Department of Biology at the University of York, where she leads the Hamilton Lab as part of the York Biomedical Research Institute. She completed her Master's degree in Biology in Health and Diseases at the University of Manchester while on an ERASMUS bursary from Université de Montpellier, France, and stayed for her PhD in Dr. Hurlstone’s laboratory. There, she pioneered the use of zebrafish to model white matter disorders and published the first leukodystrophy zebrafish model. Hamilton then held multiple short-term postdoctoral positions in Germany and the United Kingdom, employing zebrafish techniques to investigate leukodystrophy, cancer, heart regeneration, eye development, and asthma. In 2017, she established her independent research group at the Bateson Centre at the University of Sheffield, supported by a European Leukodystrophy Association (ELA) fellowship. She is the lead and co-founder of LEUKOLABS, the first UK leukodystrophy research network created in 2022, and serves as an advocate for research into these devastating inherited white matter disorders.

The Hamilton Lab utilizes zebrafish as an in vivo pre-clinical model to study neuroimmunology, focusing on the interactions between brain immune cells, microglia, and their environment in leukodystrophies to develop new therapies. Her research incorporates advanced techniques such as in vivo live imaging with high-resolution confocal microscopy and MRI, whole cleared brain imaging, immune cell transplantation, transgenesis, and CRISPR/Cas9 gene targeting. Key publications include "Heart regeneration in the Mexican cavefish" (Cell Reports, 2018), "rnaset2 mutant zebrafish model familial cystic leukoencephalopathy and reveal a role for RNase T2 in degrading ribosomal RNA" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2011), "The failure of microglia to digest developmental apoptotic cells contributes to the pathology of RNASET2-deficient leukoencephalopathy" (Glia, 2020), "Pioneer neutrophils release chromatin within in vivo swarms" (eLife, 2021), and "Macrophage transplantation rescues RNASET2-deficient microglia in zebrafish" (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2024). Hamilton has received the ELA Fellowship in 2017 and the Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard Award. Her models advance therapeutic development for rare neurological diseases, bridging in vitro and rodent approaches while upholding the 3Rs principles of animal research.