Robert A. Nichols, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor
Area of Expertise ~ Alzheimer’s Disease, molecular and cellular neuroscience
Email: robert.nichols@hawaii.edu
Phone: +1 808-692-1568
Biography: Dr. Nichols is the Director of the Graduate Neuroscience Specialization of the CMB graduate Program and the Principal Investigator and Director of INBRE IV.
Research: Our laboratory has focused on the diverse regulation by the neuropeptide beta amyloid of synaptic biochemistry and physiology; dendritic spine dynamics; contextual memory; glial biology and microglial function in synaptic pruning; neurotoxicity, neuroinflammation and glial toxicity in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathogenesis. We have been investigating the potential of a non-toxic, neuroprotective and glioprotective beta amyloid fragment as AD therapeutic.
Teaching: As a Scientist-Educator, I have been directing and teaching an upper-division Neuroscience course for undergraduates; have been participating in Graduate Neuroscience and Neuroscience Topics courses in the Graduate Neuroscience Specialization; and have taught Autonomic, Cardiac and Neuropharmacology to medical students over the last 30 years. In addition, I direct the Hawaiʻi Network of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE), a NIH-supported, statewide program that fosters biomedical career development, including research opportunities for college students, component to our “research training is education”.