Dr Nikolas Nikolaou

Nikolas is a neurobiologist with a strong background in developmental biology, neuroanatomy and molecular genetics. Nikolas received his PhD in Anatomy and Developmental Biology from University College London in 2008. As a PhD student under the guidance of Dr David Wilkinson (MRC National Institute for Medical Research), he investigated cell signalling mechanisms regulating the balance between neural progenitor maintenance and differentiation in the developing nervous system. He then joined the group of Dr Martin Meyer at the Centre for Developmental Neurobiology (King’s College London) to investigate neuronal wiring in the larval zebrafish brain. He used genetically encoded calcium indicators and functional imaging techniques to identify and characterise the response properties of developing visual circuits. Whilst at King’s College London, Nikolas joined Prof. Corinne Houart’s group to perform genetic studies and uncover the extra-nuclear roles of splicing regulators in neuronal connectivity. He moved to the University of Bath as a Lecturer in 2020 to use structural and functional imaging techniques together with transcriptome analyses to elucidate molecular and cellular mechanisms essential for brain connectivity and how these are affected in neurological disease conditions. He joined the University of Exeter in 2024 where he is currently a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences and Principal Investigator at the Living Systems Institute.