Nicole Coufal, M.D., Ph.D.

Bio

Dr. Nicole Coufal is a board-certified pediatrician and pediatric intensivist at Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego and an assistant professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

She received her medical and doctoral degree in neurosciences at UC San Diego. Thereafter Dr. Coufal continued her training in pediatrics and pediatric critical care at UC San Diego as well as a postdoctoral fellowship at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

The Coufal lab's primary research interests are to understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the development and regulation of microglia, the brain's resident macrophage. Current projects focus on understanding how microglia are affected by their environment and how they become dysregulated in the setting of neuroinflammatory disease. To understand and model microglial biology, Dr. Coufal utilizes induced pluripotent stem cells and genome-wide approaches to identify transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms. By improving modeling of genetic and idiopathic neuroinflammatory disease she hopes to ultimately improve the understanding and treatment of critical pediatric neuroinflammatory disease.

Dr. Coufal is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, a member of the Society for Critical Care Medicine and a member of the Society for Neuroscience.

Publications

The brain neurovascular epigenome and its association with dementia.
Ziegler KC, Askarova A, Gergian C, Yaa RM, van Dalen JD, Transfeld JL, Zoppi F, Du J, Clode D, Rahbar F, Graham RE, Sargurupremraj M, Debette S, Gonda DD, Levy ML, Chandran S, Falk S, Karow M, Matthews PM, Coufal NG, Nott A

Host Transcriptomic Analysis of Operative Samples From Children With Suspected Osteoarticular Infections.
Ramchandar N, Farnaes L, Coufal N

Investigation of CNS damage following HIV infection and methamphetamine exposure using human iPSC-derived microglia and 3D cerebral assembloid models.
Tiwari SK, Baidwan G, Trescott S, Jakhmola S, Coufal NG, Rana TM

Microgliopathy as a primary mediator of neuronal death in models of Friedreich's Ataxia.
Pernaci C, Johnson A, Gillette S, Warden AS, McCormick C, Weiser-Novak S, Ramirez G, Broersma EH, Mishra P, Sivakumar A, Cherqui S, Coufal NG

Transcriptional and epigenetic targets of MEF2C in human microglia contribute to cellular functions related to autism risk and age-related disease.
Nguyen C, Broersma EH, Warden AS, Mora C, Han CZ, Keulen Z, Spann N, Wang J, Ramirez G, Mak S, Trescott S, Khakpour M, Johnson A, Qureshi F, La Frano MR, Mohajeri K, Talkowski ME, Corradin O, Tremblay MÈ, Glass CK, Coufal NG

Global human myeloid replacement with peripheral progenitors induces interferonopathy and neurodegeneration.
Wang J, Warden A, Xia B, Mostoller KE, Brandon B, Du M, Spann N, Li RZ, Parast MM, Mestan K, Qureshi F, Corradin O, Glass C, Coufal NG

Emerging role of complement system in the induction of neuroinflammation in adenylosuccinate lyase deficiency disorder.
Magnusen AF, Hopkin RJ, Vorhees C, Wilson E, Moehlman M, Hallinan B, Erickson C, DelBello MP, Marsili L, Coufal NG, Pandey MK

Treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin modulates coagulation- and complement-related pathways in COVID-19 patients.
McGrosso D, Raygoza J, Kumar AJ, Lam MTY, Barnes LA, Karandashova S, Perryman A, Geriak M, Odish MF, Coufal NG, Lichtenstein B, Sakoulas G, Meier A, Nizet V, Masso-Silva JA

Long-term follow-up of children who received rapid genomic sequencing.
Sanford Kobayashi E, Tobin LE, Arenchild M, Benson W, Coufal NG, Juarez EF, Kingsmore SF, Knight J, Lenberg J, Schwarz A, Vargas-Shiraishi O, Wigby K, Bainbridge M

The inactive X chromosome drives sex differences in microglial inflammatory activity in human glioblastoma.
Tharp ME, Han CZ, Talukdar M, Balak CD, Fitzpatrick C, Connor CO, Preissl S, Buchanan J, Nott A, Escoubet L, Mavrommatis K, Gupta M, Schwartz MS, U HS, Jones PS, Levy ML, Gonda DD, Ben-Haim S, Ciacci J, Barba D, Khalessi A, Coufal NG, Chen CC, Glass CK, Page DC

Extubation Practices and Outcomes During Pediatric Respiratory Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: Analysis of the Extracorporeal Life Support Organization Registry, 2018-2022.
Rufener CR, Boulil Z, Suttner DM, Werho DK, Harvey HA, Bak EI, O'Brien N, Kudchadkar SR, Coufal NG

Palliative Care Outcomes for Critically ill Children After Rapid Whole Genome Sequencing.
Perofsky K, Doshi A, Boulil Z, Beauchamp Walters J, Lee E, Dimmock D, Kingsmore S, Coufal NG

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in Children along the US‒Mexico Border, 2017-2023.
Chiang L, Ramchandar N, Aramkul J, Fireizen Y, Beatty ME, Monroe M, Shah S, Foley J, Coufal NG

Proinflammatory immune cells disrupt angiogenesis and promote germinal matrix hemorrhage in prenatal human brain.
Chen J, Crouch EE, Zawadzki ME, Jacobs KA, Mayo LN, Choi JJ, Lin PY, Shaikh S, Tsui J, Gonzalez-Granero S, Waller S, Kelekar A, Kang G, Valenzuela EJ, Birrueta JO, Diafos LN, Wedderburn-Pugh K, Di Marco B, Xia W, Han CZ, Coufal NG, Glass CK, Fancy SPJ, Alfonso J, Kriegstein AR, Oldham MC, Garcia-Verdugo JM, Kutys ML, Lehtinen MK, Combes AJ, Huang EJ

The prototypical interferonopathy: Aicardi-Goutières syndrome from bedside to bench.
Hofer MJ, Modesti N, Coufal NG, Wang Q, Sase S, Miner JJ, Vanderver A, Bennett ML

Pathogen kinetics and detection by next-generation sequencing in pediatric complicated pneumonia.
Rodriguez KM, Perofsky KL, Ramchandar N, Foley J, Shah N, Mangifesta M, Schlaberg R, Farnaes L, Stinnett RC, Coufal NG

Novel variants in TECRL leading to catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia.
Jones D, Hartung J, Lasalle E, Borquez A, Murillo V, Guidugli L, James KN, Kingsmore SF, Coufal NG

Rapid Whole-Genome Sequencing and Clinical Management in the PICU: A Multicenter Cohort, 2016-2023.
Rodriguez KM, Vaught J, Salz L, Foley J, Boulil Z, Van Dongen-Trimmer HM, Whalen D, Oluchukwu O, Liu KC, Burton J, Syngal P, Vargas-Shiraishi O, Kingsmore SF, Sanford Kobayashi E, Coufal NG

Emerging Role of Plasma Microbial Cell-free DNA in the Diagnosis of Pediatric Mucormycosis.
Gracia M, Hadley E, Ramchandar N, Coufal NG

Microglial lipid droplet accumulation in tauopathy brain is regulated by neuronal AMPK.
Li Y, Munoz-Mayorga D, Nie Y, Kang N, Tao Y, Lagerwall J, Pernaci C, Curtin G, Coufal NG, Mertens J, Shi L, Chen X

Intra-tumoral T cells in pediatric brain tumors display clonal expansion and effector properties.
Upadhye A, Meza Landeros KE, Ramírez-Suástegui C, Schmiedel BJ, Woo E, Chee SJ, Malicki D, Coufal NG, Gonda D, Levy ML, Greenbaum JA, Seumois G, Crawford J, Roberts WD, Schoenberger SP, Cheroutre H, Ottensmeier CH, Vijayanand P, Ganesan AP

Utilizing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and surfactant in the management of severe acute respiratory distress syndrome due to hydrocarbon pneumonitis.
Rufener CR, Friedman NA, Vaught JE, Harvey HA, Coufal NG

Gene editing improves endoplasmic reticulum-mitochondrial contacts and unfolded protein response in Friedreich's ataxia iPSC-derived neurons.
Mishra P, Sivakumar A, Johnson A, Pernaci C, Warden AS, El-Hachem LR, Hansen E, Badell-Grau RA, Khare V, Ramirez G, Gillette S, Solis AB, Guo P, Coufal N, Cherqui S

Application of cell-free plasma next-generation sequencing technology in the diagnosis and management of pediatric meningitis.
Duster N, Ramchandar N, Foley J, Farnaes L, Coufal NG

Gaps in diagnosing suspected infection in immunocompromised children with cancer: A systematic review.
Park SY, Coufal NG, Dominguez SR, Farnaes L, Messacar K, Goldman FD

See the full listing of this physician's publications on PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine.

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