Dr. Kyla Nichols
Effects of bacterial metabolite-derived neurotransmitters on visceral pain
Up to 25% of the population experiences visceral pain at any one time, but the underlying mechanisms of this pain remain poorly understood. Kyla’s work aims to investigate the connection of neurotransmitter signaling, specifically gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), to visceral nociception (feeling of pain) within the gut. The project includes developing a neural microphysiological system to model the microbiota-gut-brain axis.
Kyla joined ABNEL in the Fall of 2019 as a Chemical Engineering PhD student. Prior to starting graduate school at Northeastern University, Kyla was working at GE Healthcare Life Sciences in the Upstream Product Management and Operations Department. Kyla completed her BS in Biomedical engineering and Mechanical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) the spring of 2017. During her undergraduate studies, she participated in an NSF funded Research Experience for Undergraduates at Syracuse University’s Biomaterials Institute. Her project studied astrocyte motility on tunable hydrogels which sparked her interest in neuroengineering.
B.S. Biomedical Engineering
Worcester Polytechnic Institute ’17
Worcester, MA
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering
Northeastern University ’24
Boston, MA
Bryan Just Keeps Winning – BioEl2025 Student Talk Award
Looking for more of a challenge, ABNEL's PhD student, Bryan Schellberg, headed to Austria to attend the BioEl2025 conference. During this event, Bryan gave a talk titled "In-situ monitoring of cellular function on-chip via automated, non-invasive luminescence sensing"...
Katelyn and Bryan’s publication is accepted!
Congrats to Katelyn and Bryan on the acceptance for their article titled "Electrical and magnetic stimulation separately modulates the extent and direction of neurite outgrowth in an ionically conductive hydrogel". This article will be officially published soon in the...