Nicholas Alonzo Frost

Nicholas Alonzo Frost, MD, PhD

Languages spoken: English

Clinical Locations

Imaging and Neurosciences Center

  • Dr. Frost is a board certified neurologist. His clinical and research interests focus on understanding mechanisms that contribute to disorders of cognition, with an emphasis on neurodegenerative processes such as Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, and dementia with lewy bodies. In particular, he focuses on how neuronal loss in neurodegenerative disorders, or circuit abnormalities underlying neurodevelopmental disorders, alter how our brains represent information across distributed cortical networks.

    Dr. Frost received his medical degree and graduate research training from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He then moved to San Francisco for further clinical training including an internship in internal medicine and residency in adult neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. Following residency he completed a research fellowship at UCSF focused on characterizing circuit-level endophenotypes underlying abnormal behavior in preclinical models of neurodevelopmental disorders. Clinically, he sees patients at the University of Utah with disorders of memory and cognition.

    Specialties

  • Dr. Frost is a board certified neurologist. His clinical and research interests focus on understanding mechanisms that contribute to disorders of cognition, with an emphasis on neurodegenerative processes such as Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia, and dementia with lewy bodies. In particular, he focuses on how neuronal loss in neurodegenerative disorders, or circuit abnormalities underlying neurodevelopmental disorders, alter how our brains represent information across distributed cortical networks.

    Dr. Frost received his medical degree and graduate research training from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He then moved to San Francisco for further clinical training including an internship in internal medicine and residency in adult neurology at the University of California, San Francisco. Following residency he completed a research fellowship at UCSF focused on characterizing circuit-level endophenotypes underlying abnormal behavior in preclinical models of neurodevelopmental disorders. Clinically, he sees patients at the University of Utah with disorders of memory and cognition.

    Board Certification and Academic Information

    Academic Departments Neurology -Primary
    Neurobiology -Adjunct

    Education history

    Research Fellow R25 Research Fellowship in circuit disorders underlying abnormal behavior - University of California, San Francisco Postdoctoral Fellow
    Neurology - University of California, San Francisco Resident
    Internship Internal Medicine - University of California, San Francisco Intern
    Neuroscience - University of Maryland School of Medicine M.D., Ph.D.
    Undergraduate Biochemistry, Spanish - Florida State University B.S., B.A.

    Selected Publications

    Journal Article

    1. Frost NA, Haggart A, Sohal VS (2021). Dynamic patterns of correlated activity in the prefrontal cortex encode information about social behavior. PLoS Biol, May 3;19(5), e3001235.
    2. MacGillavry HD, Kerr JM, Kassner J, Frost NA, Blanpied TA (2015). Shank-cortactin interactions control actin dynamics to maintain flexibility of neuronal spines and synapses. Eur J Neurosci, 43(2), 179-93.
    3. Lu HE, MacGillavry HD, Frost NA, Blanpied TA (2014). Multiple spatial and kinetic subpopulations of CaMKII in spines and dendrites as resolved by single-molecule tracking PALM. J Neurosci, 34(22), 7600-10.
    4. Jensen CS, Watanabe S, Rasmussen HB, Schmitt N, Olesen SP, Frost NA, Blanpied TA, Misonou H (2014). Specific sorting and post-Golgi trafficking of dendritic potassium channels in living neurons. J Biol Chem, 289(15), 10566-81.
    5. Parikh RV, Frost NA, Green A, Dandu M (2014). A Leathery Lining. J Gen Intern Med, 29(1), 243.
    6. Lieberman JA, Frost NA, Hoppert M, Fernandes PJ, Vogt SL, Raivio TL, Blanpied TA, Donnenberg MS (2012). Outer membrane targeting, ultrastructure, and single molecule localization of the enteropathogenic Escherichia coli type IV pilus secretin BfpB. J Bacteriol, 194(7), 1646-58.
    7. Frost NA, Lu HE, Blanpied TA (2012). Optimization of cell morphology measurement via single-molecule tracking PALM. PLoS One, 7(5), e36751.
    8. Frost NA, Kerr JM, Lu HE, Blanpied TA (2010). A network of networks: cytoskeletal control of compartmentalized function within dendritic spines. Curr Opin Neurobiol, 20(5), 578-87.
    9. Frost NA, Shroff H, Kong H, Betzig E, Blanpied TA (2010). Single-molecule discrimination of discrete perisynaptic and distributed sites of actin filament assembly within dendritic spines. Neuron, 67(1), 86-99.
    10. Weinman EJ, Steplock D, Cha B, Kovbasnjuk O, Frost NA, Cunningham R, Shenolikar S, Blanpied TA, Donowitz M (2009). PTH transiently increases the percent mobile fraction of Npt2a in OK cells as determined by FRAP. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol, 297(6), F1560-5.
    11. Gerdes MJ, Myakishev M, Frost NA, Rishi V, Moitra J, Acharya A, Levy MR, Park SW, Glick A, Yuspa SH, Vinson C (2006). Activator protein-1 activity regulates epithelial tumor cell identity. Cancer Res, 66(15), 7578-88.