Dequina Nicholas

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Dequina Nicholas

Principal Investigator

0000-0003-4996-2190


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Fun Fact: Was an acrobat in undergrad and her favorite color is pink.

Dr. Dequina Nicholas is an Assistant Professor at the University of California Irvine in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. The Nicholas lab studies the intersection of the nutrient environment, the immune system, and metabolic disease using a combination of molecular and cellular biology, transgenic mouse models, cytokine profiling, and flow cytometry. Dr. Nicholas’s work focuses on how the immune system and cellular metabolism impacts endocrine diseases, particularly type 2 diabetes and polycystic ovary syndrome. Dr. Nicholas received her Ph.D in biochemistry from Loma Linda University and pursued postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Barbara Nikolajczyk at Boston University, studying the metabolism of immune cells from patients with type 2 diabetes. Dr. Nicholas also trained in the laboratories of Drs. Mark Lawson and Pamela Mellon. During that time, Dr. Nicholas established the importance of glucose metabolism in reproduction and discovered a population of immune cells in the pituitary that regulate the reproductive axis. Dr. Nicholas has received the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award from NIAID to fund her “immunoendocrine” lab where her mission is to train the next generation of diverse scientists and cure Type 2 Diabetes. She is passionate about changing the culture of science to valuing diversity and inclusivity. She is the Associate Director for the UCI KL-2 program, and in this role is supporting the development of a University-wide junior faculty mentoring program that increases retention and success of minoritized scholars. She has a passion for first-generation scientists and founded 1stGenInSTEM to curate a consolidated resource that demystifies the “Hidden Curriculum” for students who are the first in their families to pursue STEM higher education. Dr. Nicholas advocates for bringing your authentic and whole self to science through sharing the ups and downs of being a new PI, a mom, and minority scholar on TikTok (@NicholasLab) and Twitter (@QuinaScience).

Learn more about Dr. Nicholas’s journey in science from featured interviews by Stem Cell Technologies, the Endocrine Society, and UCI.

Upcoming Engagements

 

2026
January 11-14, Speaker and Co-Organizer, Immunometabolism Keystone
February 20, Speaker, Vanderbilt, MSA Black History Month (BHM) Speaker Series
February 26, Speaker, Loma Linda University Homecoming
March 26-26, Workshop Facilitator, Washington DC, FLARE
April 22, Keynote Speaker, STEM Symposium, Minnesota State
May 14, Speaker, Foresight for Fellows, Fred Hutch Cancer Center
June 13-15, ENDO2026
June 14-19, Speaker, Immunometabolism GRC
July 19-22, Speaker, Society for Study of Reproduction Annual Meeting
July 26-30, Speaker, International Congress of Neuroendocrinology 2026
November 5-6, Speaker, Gerontological Society of America Annual meeting