Neuroscience Research Seminar: Aya Nusir (PhD Candidate)

Join the IPN community to get a research update from PhD candidate Aya Nusir. 
Dissertation Chair: Professor Nadine Kabbani (SSB & IPN)

Integrative Analysis of Microglial Dynamics in Nicotine Exposure and Developmental Neurobiology

Nicotine exposure during development alters brain maturation, yet the neuroimmune mechanisms underlying these effects remain poorly understood. My research investigates how microglia, the brain’s resident immune cells, mediate sex-specific vulnerabilities to nicotine addiction through developmental, molecular, and subcellular processes. Using an integrative, multi-scale approach, I aim to (1) map sex-specific microglial distribution and clustering in the primate hippocampus across development; (2) define sex-dependent proteomic signatures of microglia isolated from nicotine-exposed mice across the hippocampus, cortex, and cerebellum; and (3) elucidate nicotine-induced alterations in microglial purinergic signaling and mitochondria–endoplasmic reticulum calcium regulation through live-cell imaging and proteomics. Together, these studies bridge developmental neurobiology and addiction neuroscience, providing a systems-level understanding of how nicotine perturbs neuroimmune signaling and brain plasticity