Nicole Cyr

Biography

Dr. Cyr joined the Biology Department as an assistant professor in 2014 and was named director of the Neuroscience Program in 2021. She comes to Stonehill from Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital where she was a postdoctoral research associate. Her research, which she presented at several national meetings, focused on biomedical mechanisms regulating obesity. Her dissertation at Tufts University focused on vertebrate endocrinology.

Dr. Cyr’s previous teaching appointments include Tufts University where she was an instructor in endocrinology and Beloit College where she taught general biology and zoology.

Dr. Cyr is continuing her research of the neuroendocrine basis of obesity.  She has two major projects both of which focus on understanding changes in metabolic neurohormones during obesity and how the pathways involved could be targeted for anti-obesity drugs.  In one line of investigation, she is researching the effect of obesity-induced endoplasmic reticulum stress in the brain on the appetite-suppressing hormone alpha-MSH.  The other line of investigation aims to determine how the enzyme Sirtuin 1 regulates the thyroid and stress axes.

Education

• B.S. Biology, University of Rhode Island
• Ph.D., Biology, Tufts University

Accomplishments

• Dr. George Bray Research Scholars Award in obesity research
• Outstanding Article award from the journal: Hormones and Behavior

Research Interests

• Neuroendocrinology
• Metabolism and appetite
• Type II diabetes

Courses Taught

• Neuro 412: Neuroscience capstone
• Bio324: Endocrinology
• Bio101: Lab
• Lab Website