Nicole Phillips

Nicole Phillips, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Microbiology, Immunology & Genetics department at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC), within the College of Biomedical and Translational Sciences. She is also a member of the Institute for Healthy Aging and serves as Project Lead for the Genomics Core in the Institute of Translational Research (ITR). Her research focuses on multi-omics approaches to study health disparities in aging-related diseases, mitochondrial dysfunction in Alzheimer’s and diabetes, and novel nanopore sequencing technologies for forensic and diagnostic applications.

Education: BS in Biology from the University of Houston; MS and PhD in Molecular & Medical Genetics from UNTHSC.

Research interests include genomics, epigenomics, mitochondrial biology, and preeclampsia. She collaborates with institutions like Loma Linda University and has secured NIH and NIJ grants for projects such as health disparities in Alzheimer’s, mitochondrial DNA studies, and forensic DNA typing strategies.

Key projects include the Health & Aging Brain Study-HD cohort, studying APOE4 effects in Mexican Americans, and developing nanopore-based sequencing methods. Phillips has authored over 50 peer-reviewed articles, with a focus on mitochondrial DNA’s role in disease and health disparities.

Her lab, lab_phillips (Twitter/Instagram), emphasizes translational research bridging basic science and clinical applications, particularly in underrepresented populations.