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


Dr. Koppes receives a $500K NSF CAREER Award
Dr. Koppes was awarded a $500K NSF CAREER Award titled Defining the regulators of enteric plasticity in engineered microfluidic environments". A news article detailing the award can be found at the link below....

AIP publishes SciLight commentary on recent ABNEL collaboration review
AIP published a commentary on a recent review paper led by Max A. Winkelman and Prof. Guohao Dai in collaboration with ABNEL and LNNR. More information can be found in the link below: https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/10.0003794 Original Publication:...