Mei Chen

Mei Chen is a Professor at the Wellcome Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine within the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences at Queen's University Belfast. She maintains an active research program with current projects extending into 2025 and accepts PhD students for research in retinal degeneration and drug delivery.

Her research focuses on the immunopathogenesis of age-related retinal degeneration and ocular drug delivery systems. Key areas include investigating inflammation in diabetic retinopathy, the role of Müller cells in the retinal neurovascular unit, and developing topical drug delivery methods for posterior segment eye diseases. Her work establishes critical connections between immune dysfunction and retinal diseases like AMD, diabetic retinopathy, and retinitis pigmentosa.

Analysis of her recent publications reveals strong trends in macrophage/microglia biology in retinal fibrosis, metabolic reprogramming approaches to reduce fibrosis, and emerging research on gut-retina axis interactions. Her work consistently bridges fundamental immunology with translational ophthalmology applications.

• Fight for Sight Early Career Investigator Award (2012)
• ARVO Annual meeting International Travel Award (2015)
• ISER International Travel Award (2010)
• Travel award (IL1 mediated inflammation and diabetes) (2013)
• Uveitis Award (2nd Prize) (2011)

Professor Chen serves as Co-Investigator on multiple major research projects including NIH-funded work on microglia circadian disruption in diabetic retinopathy and macrophage roles in AMD-related fibrosis. She actively mentors students (supervising 13 research projects), performs external PhD examinations, and hosts academic visitors. Her laboratory maintains the QMMuC-1 mouse Müller cell line for studying retinal pathophysiology.

The Wellcome Wolfson Institute for Experimental Medicine provides the primary research environment where her team investigates retinal neurovascular units, develops novel drug delivery systems, and explores inflammation mechanisms in retinal degeneration. Current collaborations include University of Birmingham researchers on cell-penetrating peptide drug delivery systems.