Nicholas Alonzo Frost
( out of 47 reviews )

Nicholas Alonzo Frost, MD, PhD

Languages spoken: English

  • Dr. Frost is a board certified neurologist who sees patients with disorders of memory and cognition. His clinical and research interests focus on understanding mechanisms that contribute to disorders of cognition. His research focuses on how information relevant to complex behaviors including social interactions are encoded within the prefrontal cortex and disrupted in disease. His laboratory utilizes imaging and transcriptomic approaches to understand how heterogeneous populations of neurons function in concert to encode different types of behavioral information.

    Dr. Frost received his medical degree and graduate research training from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. There his research focused on developing super-resolution microscopy to image biological processes in living neurons. 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.

    Specialties

    Board Certification

    American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology (Neurology)

    Patient Rating

    4.8 /5
    ( out of 47 reviews )

    The patient rating score is an average of all responses on our patient experience survey. The rating averages scores for all questions about care from our providers.

    The scale on which responses are measured is 1 to 5 with 5 being the best score.

    Patient Comments

    Patient comments are gathered from our patient experience survey and displayed in their entirety.
    Patients are de-identified for confidentiality and patient privacy.

    September 15, 2024
    CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

    Dr. Frost is very knowledgeable. He presents factual information. He spends time to listen to patients concerns and is very supporting helping to set and make an achievable plan to have the best possible results for the patient. I highly recommend Dr Frost and his excellent nurses and people in his team.

    September 14, 2024
    CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

    Dr. FROST IS THE Best Dr. FROST IS THE BEST!

    September 13, 2024
    CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

    Great dr. I am lucky to have him

    July 28, 2024
    CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

    U of U is very lucky to have Dr Frost in their program!. I'm so happy to be his patient.

    July 13, 2024
    CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

    I know he is brilliant and cares about his work and patients.

    July 01, 2024
    CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

    Very professional, knowledgeable and caring

    June 29, 2024
    CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

    He is very professional, kind, understanding and excellent in examining things.

    June 29, 2024
    CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

    Dr Frost is a true professional who also displays an unusual compassion for this patient and his family.

    June 28, 2024
    CLINICAL NEUROSCIENCES CENTER

    Dr. FROST is the absolute best Dr. I have ever met.

    See More Patient Comments

  • Dr. Frost is a board certified neurologist who sees patients with disorders of memory and cognition. His clinical and research interests focus on understanding mechanisms that contribute to disorders of cognition. His research focuses on how information relevant to complex behaviors including social interactions are encoded within the prefrontal cortex and disrupted in disease. His laboratory utilizes imaging and transcriptomic approaches to understand how heterogeneous populations of neurons function in concert to encode different types of behavioral information.

    Dr. Frost received his medical degree and graduate research training from the University of Maryland School of Medicine. There his research focused on developing super-resolution microscopy to image biological processes in living neurons. 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.

    Board Certification and Academic Information

    Academic Departments Neurology -Primary
    Neurobiology -Adjunct
    Board Certification
    American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology (Neurology)

    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. Walker H, Frost NA (2024). Protocol for the generation of single-nuclei RNA-seq libraries and quantification of heterogeneous cell types activated during social interaction. STAR Protoc, 5(4), 103395. (Read full article)
    2. Walker H, Frost NA (2023). Distinct transcriptional programs define a heterogeneous neuronal ensemble for social interaction. iScience. (Read full article)
    3. Walker H, Frost NA (2024). Distinct transcriptional programs define a heterogeneous neuronal ensemble for social interaction. iScience, 27(7), 110355. (Read full article)
    4. Shin D, Kim CN, Ross J, Hennick KM, Wu SR, Paranjape N, Leonard R, Wang JC, Keefe MG, Pavlovic BJ, Donohue KC, Moreau C, Wigdor EM, Larson HH, Allen DE, Cadwell CR, Bhaduri A, Popova G, Bearden CE, Pollen AA, Jacquemont S, Sanders SJ, Haussler D, Wiita AP, Frost NA, Sohal VS, Nowakowski TJ (2024). Thalamocortical organoids enable in vitro modeling of 22q11.2 microdeletion associated with neuropsychiatric disorders. Cell Stem Cell, 31(3), 421-432.e8. (Read full article)
    5. Frost NA, Donohue KC, Sohal V (2023). Context-invariant socioemotional encoding by prefrontal ensembles. bioRxiv. (Read full article)
    6. 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.
    7. 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. (Read full article)
    8. 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. (Read full article)
    9. 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. (Read full article)
    10. Parikh RV, Frost NA, Green A, Dandu M (2014). A Leathery Lining. J Gen Intern Med, 29(1), 243.
    11. 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. (Read full article)
    12. Frost NA, Lu HE, Blanpied TA (2012). Optimization of cell morphology measurement via single-molecule tracking PALM. PLoS One, 7(5), e36751. (Read full article)
    13. 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. (Read full article)
    14. 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. (Read full article)
    15. 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. (Read full article)
    16. 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. (Read full article)

    Book Chapter

    1. Frost NA, MacGillavry HD, Lu HE, Blanpied TA (2014). Live-cell PALM of intracellular proteins in neurons. In Nägerl U, Triller A (Eds.), Nanoscale Imaging of Synapses. Neuromethods (84, pp. 93-123). New York, NY: Humana Press.