Nicole joked that she was tired of working with humans and that monkeys sounded like more fun, so she took a job at the primate center in Davis, CA. Little did she know, she would soon meet Matt at an NIH conference. Their love blossomed across the country as they dreamed of world adventures, exchanged nightly phone calls, and text cute pet pics back and forth. Their first dates included Taco Bell and the National Zoo. When Nicole changed jobs to UCSF, Matt quickly realized that San Francisco would be an awesome place to live. A few months later, Matt moved to San Francisco and started his own position at UCSF. During the summer of 2025, they became engaged on top of a glacier near Denali National Park in Alaska. They bought a house in Clayton, CA in March 2026 and look forward to hosting friends and family at their home in the years to come.