Nicole T. Quintus

Pronouns: she/her

E-MAIL:  [email protected]

Undergraduate Institution and Major:

University of Arizona - Tucson, B.S. in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science, 2017 
University of Arizona - Phoenix Biomedical Campus, M.S. in Clinical Translational Science, 2021

Graduate Advisor

Patrick Rothwell, Ph.D., Department of Neuroscience

Graduate Research:

My primary research interest is investigating the molecular etiology of mood disorders and how they may arise from both social and environmental stress. My thesis work combines pharmacology, behavior, and genetics by using angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition to indirectly agonize mu opioid receptors in the nucleus accumbens, a reward and motivation brain region. This pharmacological intervention is administered during or following exposure to chronic social defeat stress. Following these experiments, I assess transcriptomic differences between animals that did and did not respond to treatment. Through this work, I aim to identify novel, druggable targets and utilize them as therapeutic interventions for those living with mood disorders.

Graduate Publications

• Kim, HD., Wei, J., Call, T., Ma, X., Quintus, N.T., Summers, A.J., Carotenuto, S., Johnson, R., Nguyen, A.A., Cui, Y., Park, J.G, Qiu, S., Ferguson, D. “SIRT1 coordinates transcriptional regulation of neural activity and modulates depression-like behaviors in the nucleus accumbens” Molecular Psychiatry, 2024, doi:10.1038/s41380-021-01217-8.
• Kim, HD., Wei, J., Call, T., Quintus, N.T., Summers, A.J., Carotenuto, S., Johnson, R., Ma, X., Xu, C., Park, J., Qiu, S., Ferguson, D. “Shisa6 Mediates Cell-Type Specific Regulation of Depression in the Nucleus Accumbens.” Molecular Psychiatry, 2021, doi:10.1038/s41380-021-01217-8.

Graduate Presentations

“Acute treatment with captopril provides rapid antidepressant-like action in male mice”, Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellows Conference, Chevy Chase, MD, September 2024.

“Leveraging endogenous opioid signaling to enhance behavioral and transcriptomic signatures of resilience”, Graduate Program in Neuroscience Annual Retreat, Minneapolis, MN, February 2024.

 “Leveraging endogenous opioid signaling to enhance behavioral and transcriptomic signatures of resilience”, University of Minnesota Institute for Translational Neuroscience Annual Retreat, January 2024.

“The Role of Cell-Type Specific CHRM3 Overexpression in Promoting Anxiety- and Depressive-like Behavior”, Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students, Virtual Conference, November 2021. 

“The Role of Cell-Type Specific CHRM3 Overexpression in Promoting Anxiety- and Depressive-like Behavior”, Phoenix Biomedical Campus Trainee Seminar Series, Phoenix, AZ, November 2021. 5. “Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) overexpression in nucleus accumbens in D1 MSNs increases dendritic complexity”, Society for Neuroscience, Chicago, IL, October 2019.

Graduate Awards/Honors

NIDA R01 Diversity Supplement 2024 
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Gilliam Fellowship 2024 - 2027
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Excellence Award 2024 
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Mini-Grant 2024 
Career Development Award 2022 
Dean’s Distinguished Graduate Fellowship 2022 
Early Engagement Program Scholar 2022 
Summer Research Institute Scholar 2022 
Clinical Translational Science Program Travel Award 2021 

GPN Committees

GPN Admissions Committee, 2024

Rotations

Alessandro Bartolomucci, Ph.D., Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology 
Harry T. Orr, Ph.D., Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology Tulloch Professor of Genetics; Director, Institute for Translational Neuroscience 
Patrick Rothwell, Ph.D., Department of Neuroscience

Undergraduate Research

Master's research: I investigated CHRM3, a gene encoding the muscarinic acetylcholine receptor M3, and its role in promoting a pro-susceptible phenotype. CHRM3 had been previously identified as a differentially expressed gene in Drd1 MSNs (medium spiny neurons) of susceptible D1-Cre +/- male mice.

What got you interested in research?

I wanted to understand why individuals with similar life experiences had drastically different behavioral outcomes to external stressors.

Best advice from a graduate mentor?

Enjoy your rotations! This is your time to sample some of the interesting research happening at UMN before committing to a single project. Have fun!