Education:
University of Portland
1982-1987 B.S. Biology
Stanford University School of Medicine
1988-1993 M.D.
Stanford University Hospital
1993-1996 Intern/Resident
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
1996-1999 Fellow Pulmonary/Critical Care

Research Interests:

Clinical and experimental lung transplantation.

The application of proteomics technologies to biomarkers of pancreatic islet cell viability for clinical transplantation.

Characterization and treatment of autoimmunity in experimental and clinical pulmonary hypertension.

Selected Publications:

• Babu A, Nicolls MR. Critical pathways leading to obliterative bronchiolitis in lung allografts. Current Opinions in Organ Transplantation 2006 (in press).
• El Mezayen R, El Gazzar M, Nicolls MR, Marecki JC, Dreskin SC, Nomiyama H., Effect of thymoquinone on cyclooxygenase expression and prostaglandin production in a mouse model of allergic airway inflammation. Immunol Letters 2006. May 22 (published ahead of print).
• El Gazzar M, Mezayen RE, Marecki JC, Nicolls MR, Canastar A, Dreskin SC. Anti-inflammatory effect of thymoquinone in a mouse model of allergic lung inflammation. Int Immunopharmacol 2006; 6:1135-42.
• El Gazzar M, Mezayen RE, Nicolls MR, Marecki JC, Dreskin SC. Downregulation of leukotriene biosynthesis by thymoquinone attenuates airway inflammation in a mouse model of allergic asthma. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 2006; Mar 31 (published ahead of print).
• Nicolls MR, Gill RG. LFA-1 as a target for immunomodulation. Am J Transplant 2006; 6: 27-36.
• Taraseviciene-Stewart L, Scerbavicius DK, Burns N, Cool CD, Nicolls MR, Voelkel NF. The protective role of T lymphocytes in pulmonary vascular remodeling. Chest 2005; 571S-572S
• Nicolls MR, Taraseviciene-Stewart L, Rai P, Badesch D, Voelkel N. Autoimmunity and pulmonary hypertension: a perspective. Eur Resp J 2005; 26: 1110-1118.
• Hayden MR, Tyagi SC, Kerklo MM, Nicolls MR. Type 2 diabetes as a conformational disease. J Pancreas 2005: 6(4):287-302.
• Douglas IS, Nicolls MR. Chemokine-mediated angiogenesis: an essential link in the evolution of airway fibrosis? J Clin Invest 2005; 115: 1133-1136.
• Murakawa T, Kerklo MM, Zamora MR, Wei Y, Gill RG, Grover FL, Nicolls MR. Simultaneous LFA-1 and CD40L antagonism prevents airway remodeling in orthotopic airway transplantation: Implications for the role of respiratory epithelium as a modulator of fibrosis. J Immunol 2005; 174:3869-3879
• Taraseviciene-Stewart L, Scerbavicius R, Choe K, Moore M, Sullivan A, Nicolls MR, Fontenot AP, Tuder RM, Voelkel NF. An animal model of autoimmune emphysema: a new paradigm. Am J Resp Crit Care Med 2005;171:734-742.
• Zamora MR, Nicolls MR, Hodges TN, Marquesen J, Astor T, Grazia T, Weill D. Following universal prophylaxis with intravenous ganciclovir and cytomegalovirus immune globulin, valgancyclovir is safe and effective for prevention of CMV infection following lung transplantation. Am J Transplant 2004; 4 (10):1635-42.
• Nicolls MR. The clinical and biological relationship between Type II diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease. Current Alzheimer’s Res 2004;1: 47-54
• Cardoza AK, Berthou L, KruhØffer M, Ørntoft T, Nicolls MR, Eizirik DL. Gene microarray study corroborates proteomic findings in rodent islet cells. J Proteome Research 2003; 2: 553-555.
• Nicolls MR, D’Antonio J, Hutton JC, Gill RG, Czwornog JL, Duncan MW. Proteomics as a tool for discovery: Proteins implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease are highly expressed in normal pancreatic islets. J Proteome Research 2003; 2:199-205.
• Nicolls MR, Coulombe M, Beilke J, Gill RG. CD-4 dependent dominant transplantation tolerance induced by simultaneous perturbation of LFA-1 (CD11a) and CD154 pathways. J Immunol 2002; 169: 4831-4839.
• Nicolls MR, Coulombe M, Diamond A, Bolwerk A, Beilke J, Gill RG. Interferon- is not a universal requirement for islet allograft survival. Transplantation 2002. 74:472-477.
• Nicolls MR, Coulombe M, Gill RG. The basis of immunogenicity of endocrine allografts. Crit Rev Immunol 2001; 21:87-101.
• Tran GT, Carter N, He XY, Spicer TS, Plain KM, Nicolls M, Hall BM. Hodgkinson SJ. Reversal of experimental allergic encephalomyelitis with non-mitogenic, non-depleting anti-CD3 mAb therapy with a preferential effect on T(h)1 cells that is augmented by IL-4. Int Immunol 2001; 13:1109-1120.
• Nicolls MR, Coulombe M, Bolwerk A, Gill RG. Anti-LFA-1-induced allograft prolongation does not require IL-4 or IFN. J Immunol. 2000 164:3627-3634.

View of Recent Publications in PubMed