Back to Main

Faculty Detail     Name ANTHONY P NICHOLAS Assistant Chief of Neurology, Birmingham VA Medical Center Director, Neurology Clerkship Program Co-Director, Medical Neuroscience Course Module   Campus Address SC 350G Zip 0017 Phone 205-975-8509 E-mail nicholas@uab.edu Other websites http://www.youtube.com/user/DrNicksBrainChannel/videos Career Advisor

Education Undergraduate  University of Scranton, Scranton, Pennsylvania    1982  B.S.  Graduate  Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Galveston, Texas    1987  Ph.D.  Medical School  The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas    1990  M.D.

Faculty Appointment(s) Appointment Type Department Division Rank Primary  Neurology   Neurology Chair Office Associate Professor Secondary  Neurobiology  Neurobiology Assistant Professor Center  Civitan International Research Center  Civitan International Research Center Associate Professor Center  General Clinical Research Center  Comprehensive Neuroscience Center Associate Professor Center  Ctr for Glial Bio in Med  Ctr for Glial Bio in Med Associate Professor Center  Neurology   Ctr Neurodegeneration & Exp Ther (CNET) Associate Professor

Graduate Biomedical Sciences Affiliations Hughes Med-Grad Fellowship Program  Integrative Biomedical Sciences  Medical Scientist Training Program  Neuroscience Graduate Program  Neurosciences

Biographical Sketch  Dr. Nicholas is originally from Pennsylvania and received his B.S. degree in 1982 from the University of Scranton. He then received his Ph.D. in Anatomy from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in Galveston in 1987, and his M.D. degree from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston in 1990. After medical school, Dr. Nicholas spent two years completing a post-doctoral fellowship in Neuroscience with Dr. Tomas Hökfelt at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1992, he returned to the United States and in 1996 concluded his neurology residency and became Assistant Professor of Neurology at UAB. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 2003 and presently holds joint appointments in the Departments of Neurobiology and Physiology/Biophysics. He also serves as Assistant Chief of Neurology at the Birmingham VA Medical Center, was Co-Director of the American Parkinson Disease Association Information and Referral Center at UAB and Director of the UAB Parkinson Disease Research Laboratory from 1997-2005. In 2006, Dr. Nicholas was given research appointments in the Civitan International Research Center and UAB's Center for Glial Biology in Medicine and Center for Neurodegeneration and Experimental Therapeutics.

Society Memberships Organization Name Position Held Org Link American Academy of Neurology  Member    American Neurological Association  Member    Movement Disorders Society  Member    Society for Neuroscience  Member

Research/Clinical Interest Title Parkinson’s Disease, Citrullinated Proteins, Adrenergic Receptors Description Major basic science research interests of Dr. Nicholas include the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease, including protein degradation, the role of auto-immune antibodies and gliosis in neurodegeneration and the neurochemical mechanisms responsible for levodopa-induced dyskinesia. Other interests include the role of spastin protein in familial spastic paraplegia and protein deimination (citrullination) in neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis (and their animal models). Dr. Nicholas also has experience performing clinical research, including testing new treatments for Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and cervical dystonia.

Selected Publications  Publication PUBMEDID Nicholas AP: Dual immunofluorescence study of citrullinated proteins in Parkinson diseased substantia nigra. Neuroscience Letters, 495: 26-29, 2011.  21414385  Nicholas AP, Buck K, Ferger B: Effects of levodopa on striatal monoamines in mice with levodopa-induced hyperactivity. Neuroscience Letters, 443: 204-208, 2008.  18657593  Nicholas AP, Lubin FD, Hallett PJ, Vattem P, Ravenscroft P, Bezard E, Zhou S, Fox SH, Brotchie JM, Sweatt JD, Standaert DG: Striatal histone modifications in models of levodopa-induced dyskinesia. Journal of Neurochemistry, 106: 486-494, 2008.  18410512  Nicholas AP: Levodopa-induced hyperactivity in mice treated with 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine. Movement Disorders, 22: 99-104, 2007.  17133519  Nicholas AP, Sambandam T, Echols JD, Barnum SR: Expression of citrullinated proteins in murine experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. Journal of Comparative Neurology 486 :254-266, 2005.  15844173  Nicholas AP, Sambandam T, Echols JD, Tourtellotte WW: Increased citrullinated glial fibrillary acidic protein in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. Journal of Comparative Neurology 473 :128-136, 2004.  15067723  Nicholas AP, King JL, Sambandam T, Echols JD, Gupta KB, McInnis C, Whitaker JN: Immunohistochemical localization of citrullinated proteins in adult rat brain. Journal of Comparative Neurology 459 :251-66, 2003.  12655508  Nicholas AP, Whitaker JN: Preparation of a monoclonal antibody to citrullinated epitopes: its characterization and some applications to immunohistochemistry in human brain. Glia 37 :328-336, 2002.  11870872  Nicholas AP, Hökfelt T, Pieribone VA: The distribution and significance of CNS adrenoceptors examined with in situ hybridization. Trends in Pharmacological Sciences 17 :245-255, 1996.  8756183  Nicholas AP, Pieribone V, Dagerlind A, Meister B, Elde R, Hökfelt T: In situ hybridization. A complementary method to radioligand-mediated autoradiography for localizing adrenergic, alpha-2 receptor-producing cells. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 763: 222-242, 1995.  7677334

Keywords Parkinson's disease, SPG4 familial spastic paraparesis, protein deimination (citrullination), levodopa-induced dyskinesia, cervical dystonia

© 2008 University of Alabama at Birmingham. All rights reserved. DisclaimerAbout this SiteGraphic Design Created by UAB Web Communications.
Calendar Designed by Medical Education Information Services. To report problems with the site, email us at meis@uab.edu. Last Revision: February 15, 2012.
The UAB School of Medicine Mailing Address: 1530 3rd Avenue South, FOT 1203, Birmingham AL 35294-3412