Education

Post Doc Fellow, University of California, Los Angeles
Ph.D., Clark Atlanta University
B.A. Spelman College

Biography

Nichols-Obande is an alum of Spelman College, C'2008, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Biology, and Clark Atlanta University (2016), where she received a Ph.D. in Biology.

Nichols-Obande's graduate work examined the role of stress duration on nitric oxide production in a region of the brain involved in stress regulation. Her graduate school experience led her to a postdoc at UCLA, where she studied mechanisms that regulate sleep homeostasis. Her research uses a mouse model to examine the role of sex chromosomes in sleep and stress regulation. This work is important because women disproportionately report insomnia related disturbances. Therefore, her ultimate research goal is to understand the biological underpinnings of sex differences in sleep and sleep regulation in females.

Nichols-Obande's HBCU experiences helped shape her career mission statement, which is to increase minority representation in biomedical science by educating a diverse group of students in biological sciences and preparing them to be leaders in their chosen careers.

Courses Taught

Animal Behavior

Bio110: Population Biology

Bio115: Organismal Form and Function

Research Interests

The role of sex hormones and chromosomes in regulating sleep and stress.

Publications

Fiala M, Lau YCC, Aghajani A, Bhargava S, Aminpour E, Kaczor-Urbanowicz KE, Mirzoyan H, Nichols IS, Ko MW, Morselli M, Santana J, Dang J, Sayre J, Paul K, Pellegrini M. Omega-3 Fatty Acids Increase Amyloid-β Immunity, Energy, and Circadian Rhythm for Cognitive Protection of Alzheimer's Disease Patients Beyond Cholinesterase Inhibitors. J Alzheimers Dis. 2020;75(3):993-1002. doi: 10.3233/JAD-200252. PMID: 32390637.

Zhang Z, Reis FMCV, He Y, Park JW, DiVittorio JR, Sivakumar N, van Veen JE, Maesta-Pereira S, Shum M, Nichols IS, Massa MG, Anderson S, Paul K, Liesa M, Ajijola OA, Xu Y, Adhikari A, Correa SM. Estrogen-sensitive medial preoptic area neurons coordinate torpor in mice. Nat Commun. 2020 Dec 11;11(1):6378. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-20050-1. PMID: 33311503; PMCID: PMC7732979

Nichols IS, Jones MI, Okere C, Ananaba G, Paul K, Nitrergic neurons of the dorsal raphe nucleus encode information about stress duration. Kavushansky A, ed. PLoS ONE. 2017;12(11):e0187071. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0187071. PMCID: PMC5681257