Contact information
Colleges
BIOGRAPHY
Kanmin Xue, MB BChir PhD FRCOphth, is a Wellcome Trust clinician scientist fellow at the University of Oxford and Honorary Consultant Vitreoretinal Surgeon at the Oxford Eye Hospital. He previously held the role of National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Academic Clinical Lecturer in Oxford between 2014 and 2018, conducting laboratory and clinical research into gene therapy for inherited retinal diseases, robotic eye surgery and artificial retinal implant with Professor Robert MacLaren. He has completed the UK specialist training in ophthalmology and a vitreoretinal fellowship at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. He previously conducted PhD research at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge into how DNA editing brings about antibody class switching, underwent clinical training at Trinity College Cambridge, and pre-clinical training at Brasenose College Oxford, where he was awarded Martin Wronker Prize for the top First Class in Medicine.
AWARDS
Ruskell Medal 2019
Ian Fraser Cup 2017
Luigi Barca Award 2017
Martin Wronker Prize in Medicine 2003
Websites
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Modern Retina
Shedding light on retinal inflammation after gene therapy
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Fight for Sight
How gene therapy can be applied to a multitude of sight loss conditions
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Retina UK Conference Talk
Practical example of gene therapy
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Retina UK Podcast
Cataract surgery for patients with inherited retinal degenerations
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Oxford Medicine Magazine
Summer 2024 - Gene Therapy for Retinal Disease
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BBC News
AI assistant, Dora, eases NHS pressure in cataract care
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Eyetube
Clinical challenges of AAV vectors
Kanmin Xue
MA MB BChir PhD FRCOphth
Associate Professor & Wellcome Clinical Research Career Development Fellow
- Honorary Consultant Vitreoretinal Surgeon, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust & Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London
- Member of Senior Common Room (former Medical Research Fellow), Corpus Christi College, Oxford
Research
The retina is an accessible part of the central nervous system and an ideal organ for studying neurodegeneration and assessing novel gene therapies. Kanmin leads the Retinal Disease and Repair Group, which is currently focused on investigating the mechanisms of retinal degeneration and inflammation in the context of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and uveitis. Improved understanding of these diseases supports the development of novel therapeutic approaches, including viral and non-viral vector-mediated gene delivery, gene editing, and antisense oligonucleotide therapies. Clinical translation is aided by a multi-disciplinary approach, involving patient cohort studies, interventional clinical trials, and application of artificial intelligence (AI).
Team members
Joel Quinn, DPhil candidate & MRC Scholar (Merton College)
Molly John, DPhil candidate (Exeter College)
Monica Hu, DPhil candidate & Clarendon Scholar (Merton College)
Celia Sourd, Post-doctoral Research Scientist
Lakshanie Wickramasinghe, Post-doctoral Research Scientist & Knoop Junior Research Fellow in Ophthalmology (St Cross College)
Emer Chang, Academic Foundation Doctor (St Hugh's College)
- Early Career Researcher Award, Oxford Ophthalmological Congress 2024
Past students
Laurel Chandler, DPhil (Merton College)
- Thomas Willis Poster Prize 2019
- Oxford-Bristol-Cardiff-Southampton Alliance in Vision Research Best Poster Prize 2017
Ayesha Musa, FHS student 2020 (Jesus College)
James Aylward, BM-BCh (St Hilda's College)
Dun Jack Fu, BM-BCh PhD (St Hugh's College)
Olivia Parham, FHS student 2016 (New College)
Howell Fu, FHS student 2015 (Exeter College)
Research groups
Collaborators
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Robert MacLaren
Professor of Ophthalmology
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Jasmina Kapetanovic
MRC Clinician Scientist and Consultant Vitreo-Retinal Surgeon
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Samantha de Silva
Consultant Ophthalmologist
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Dominik Fischer
Professor of Ophthalmology
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Michelle McClements
Senior Postdoctoral Research Scientist
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Amandeep Josan
Specialist Optometrist
Key publications
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Single-cell transcriptomic analysis of retinal immune regulation and blood-retinal barrier function during experimental autoimmune uveitis
Journal article
Quinn J. et al, (2024), Scientific Reports, 14
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Accuracy and safety of an autonomous artificial intelligence clinical assistant conducting telemedicine follow-up assessment for cataract surgery
Journal article
Meinert E. et al, (2024), eClinicalMedicine, 73, 102692 - 102692
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A Network Meta-Analysis of Retreatment Rates following Bevacizumab, Ranibizumab, Aflibercept, and Laser for Retinopathy of Prematurity
Journal article
Chang E. et al, (2022), Ophthalmology, 129, 1389 - 1401
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Characterizing the cellular immune response to subretinal AAV gene therapy in the murine retina
Journal article
Chandler LC. et al, (2021), Molecular Therapy - Methods & Clinical Development, 22, 52 - 65
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Genome-Editing Strategies for Treating Human Retinal Degenerations
Journal article
Quinn J. et al, (2021), Human Gene Therapy, 32, 247 - 259
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Initial results from a first-in-human gene therapy trial on X-linked retinitis pigmentosa caused by mutations in RPGR
Journal article
Cehajic-Kapetanovic J. et al, (2020), Nature Medicine, 26, 354 - 359
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Enhancement of Adeno-Associated Virus-Mediated Gene Therapy Using Hydroxychloroquine in Murine and Human Tissues
Journal article
Chandler LC. et al, (2019), Molecular Therapy - Methods & Clinical Development, 14, 77 - 89
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Beneficial effects on vision in patients undergoing retinal gene therapy for choroideremia
Journal article
Xue K. et al, (2018), Nature Medicine, 24, 1507 - 1512
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First-in-human study of the safety and viability of intraocular robotic surgery
Journal article
Edwards TL. et al, (2018), Nature Biomedical Engineering, 2, 649 - 656
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Assessment of the Electronic Retinal Implant Alpha AMS in Restoring Vision to Blind Patients with End-Stage Retinitis Pigmentosa
Journal article
Edwards TL. et al, (2018), Ophthalmology, 125, 432 - 443
Recent publications
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Single-cell and spatial transcriptomic analyses of gene therapy-associated retinal inflammation in non-human primates
Preprint
Sourd C. et al, (2025)
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Single-cell and spatial transcriptomic analyses of gene therapy-associated retinal inflammation in non-human primates
Journal article
XUE K. et al, (2025), BioRxiv
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Reply to Comment on "Retinal vascularization rate predicts retinopathy of prematurity and remains unaffected by low-dose bevacizumab treatment".
Journal article
Chang E. et al, (2025), Am J Ophthalmol
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Gene Therapy-Associated Uveitis (GTAU): Understanding and mitigating the adverse immune response in retinal gene therapy
Journal article
Purdy R. et al, (2025), Progress in Retinal and Eye Research, 106, 101354 - 101354
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Retinal vascularization rate predicts retinopathy of prematurity and remains unaffected by low-dose bevacizumab treatment
Journal article
Chang E. et al, (2025), American Journal of Ophthalmology
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Physiological responses to retinopathy of prematurity screening: indirect ophthalmoscopy versus ultra-widefield retinal imaging.
Journal article
Purohit R. et al, (2025), Pediatr Res
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An analysis of heavy silicone oil treatment for inferior proliferative vitreoretinopathy
Journal article
Hammer M. et al, (2025), BMC Ophthalmology, 25
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A generalist medical language model for disease diagnosis assistance
Journal article
Liu X. et al, (2025), Nature Medicine
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Clinical utility of mobile ultra-widefield retinal imaging (Optos) for screening of retinopathy of prematurity
Conference paper
Ie A. et al, (2025), CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL OPHTHALMOLOGY, 53
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Self-improving generative foundation model for synthetic medical image generation and clinical applications
Journal article
Wang J. et al, (2024), Nature Medicine