Garry P. Nolan (born c. 1961) is a British-American[1] immunologist, academic, inventor, and business executive. He holds the Rachford and Carlota A. Harris Professor Endowed Chair in the Department of Pathology at Stanford University School of Medicine.[2][3] Nolan founded biotechnology companies, and wrote numerous medical research papers. Since 2022, most of his public appearances have been related to his research in ufology and his belief that extraterrestrial intelligence has visited or resides on Earth.

Education

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Nolan graduated in 1983 from Cornell University with a BS degree in biology with a specialization in genetics. In 1989, he received his PhD in genetics from Stanford University under Leonard Herzenberg before doing post-doctoral work with Nobel laureate David Baltimore at MIT,[3] where he co-developed the 293T-based rapid retroviral production system and the cloning of the NF-κB p65/ RelA DNA regulatory factor.[citation needed]

Research

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His areas of research include autoimmunity and inflammation, cancer and leukemia, hematopoiesis, and using computation for network and systems immunology.[3][4] He is perhaps best known for his early work in the Baltimore lab at the Whitehead Institute, where he worked on developing 293T cell rapid retroviral production for gene therapy.[5] Nearly all gene therapy using retroviruses or lentiviruses is done using 293-based cell lines per the rapid retroviral protocol. He also developed cloning of the RELA transcription factor, a key regulator in immune response genes and a principal cellular component that HIV uses to replicate itself. Other major projects on which he has worked include phospho-flow signaling development (now licensed to Becton-Dickinson), FACS-gal (owned by Thermo Fisher), CyTOF multiparameter analysis, split-poll based Quantum Barcoding Technology (owned by ScaleBio), algorithmic approaches to analyzing complex single-cell datasets,[6] proof that the NFAT transcription factor is both a REL protein and a key determinant in HIV replication,[7][8] and development of multiplexing technologies for tissue analysis, such as MIBI and CODEX, and the algorithmic approaches needed to understand them.[9][10] As of 2022, his lab works on several FDA-supported projects for Ebola,[11] influenza, Zika virus, and COVID-19, as well as continuing Nolan's immune-tumor interface in many human cancers.

Companies

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In 1996, Nolan founded the biotechnology company Rigel, Inc. with colleagues Donald Payan, James Gower, Thomas Raffin, and Ronald Garren in South San Francisco.[12] In 2003, he established the biotech company Nodality, Inc., which develops "personalized tests for cancer and autoimmune diseases."[13][3] Big data company BINA Technology was founded in 2010 and bought out by Roche in 2014 for $107 million.[14][15][16] In 2011, he founded Apprise, which focused on cell analysis using split-pool technology. Nolan later sold Apprise to Roche, with whom he co-founded another startup, Scale Bio, which also focuses on split-pool technology.[17] Along with three postdoctoral researchers, Sean Bendall, Michael Angelo, and Harris Feinberg, Nolan founded Ionpath in 2014. This company is active in spatial proteomics.[18][19] In 2015, with postdocs Yury Goltsev and Nikolay Samusik, he founded Akoya Biosciences, which commercializes Nolan's co-Detection by indexing (CODEX) technology.[20][21]

Ufology and belief in extraterrestrial contact

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In 2012, Nolan began analysis on the Atacama skeleton, a corpse from Chile that ufologists had speculated to be of alien origin, but which he later revealed to be a mummified human stillbirth with genetic bone defects and gene mutation causing deformity.[22][23][24][25][26]

According to Nolan, he was approached by "some people representing the government and an aerospace corporation to help them understand the medical harm that had come to some individuals, related to supposed interactions with an anomalous craft" because "they were interested in the kinds of blood analysis that my lab can do".[27]

Nolan is the lead author a study about materials associated with UFOs.[28][2][29] In August 2022, Nolan appeared on Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight[30] show and discussed his claims of UAP-related research in an hour long interview. During a May 2023 SALT iConnections conference in Manhattan for an interview with Alex Klokus titled "The Pentagon, Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Crashed UFOs", Nolan claimed that some governments have retrieved artifacts from extraterrestrial craft, said that he gives the probability as "100 percent" that extraterrestrials have not only visited Earth but have been visiting earth for a long time, and speculated that what has visited earth are simply "emissaries" and possibly drones.[31][32] As New York Times columnist Ezra Klein interviewed journalist and UFO author Leslie Kean in June 2023, Kean told Klein that Nolan "knows David Grusch very well and vouches for him".[33]

Nolan co-founded The Sol Foundation with sociocultural anthropologist Peter Skafish on August 15, 2023.[34]

Awards and honors

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References

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  1. ^ Gita Wirjawan. "Alien & UFO: The Critical Question Nobody's Asking - Garry Nolan" (Podcast).
  2. ^ a b Lewis-Kraus, Gideon (30 April 2021). "How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously". The New Yorker. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d "Garry Nolan". Stanford University. n.d. Archived from the original on 11 February 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  4. ^ Campion, Thobey (10 December 2021). "Stanford Professor Garry Nolan Is Analyzing Anomalous Materials From UFO Crashes". Vice. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  5. ^ Pear, W.S.; Scott, M.L.; Nolan, G.P. (1997). "Generation of High-Titer, Helper-Free Retroviruses by Transient Transfection". Gene Therapy Protocols. Methods in Molecular Medicine. Vol. 7. pp. 41–57. doi:10.1385/0-89603-484-4:41. ISBN 0-89603-484-4. PMID 24493417. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  6. ^ Bendall, Sean C.; Simonds, Erin F.; Qiu, Peng; et al. (2011). "Single-Cell Mass Cytometry of Differential Immune and Drug Responses Across a Human Hematopoietic Continuum". Science. 332 (6030): 687–696. Bibcode:2011Sci...332..687B. doi:10.1126/science.1198704. PMC 3273988. PMID 21551058.
  7. ^ Kinoshita, S.; Su, Lu; Amano, M.; Timmerman, L.A.; Kanesima, H.; Nolan, G.P. (1997). "The T cell activation factor NF-ATc positively regulates HIV-1 replication and gene expression in T cells". Immunity. 6 (3): 235–244. doi:10.1016/s1074-7613(00)80326-x. PMID 9075924.
  8. ^ Nolan, G.P. (1994). "NF-AT-AP-1 and Rel-bZIP: hybrid vigor and binding under the influence". Cell. 77 (6): 795–798. doi:10.1016/0092-8674(94)90126-0. PMID 8004669. S2CID 6452940. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  9. ^ Angelo, Michael; Bendall, Sean C.; Finck, Rachel; et al. (2 March 2014). "Multiplexed ion beam imaging of human breast tumors". Nature Medicine. 20 (4): 436–442. doi:10.1038/nm.3488. PMC 4110905. PMID 24584119.
  10. ^ Goltsev, Yury; Samusik, Nikolay; Kennedy-Darling, Julia; et al. (9 August 2018). "Deep Profiling of Mouse Splenic Architecture with CODEX Multiplexed Imaging". Cell. 174 (4): 968–981. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2018.07.010. PMC 6086938. PMID 30078711.
  11. ^ "Survivor Studies: Better Understanding Ebola's After-Effects to Help Find New Treatments". FDA. n.d. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  12. ^ "Rigel Pharmaceuticals Inc". Wall Street Journal. 2022. Archived from the original on 15 February 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  13. ^ Jarvis, Lisa M. (29 March 2010). "Nodality Wins Backing From Pfizer Venture". C&EN. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  14. ^ Jorgensen, Max (15 September 2021). "DeciBio's Spatial Omics Q&A with Garry Nolan of Stanford University". Decibio. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  15. ^ Proffitt, Allison (19 December 2014). "Roche Acquires Bina Technologies' Powerful Genome Analysis Platform". Bio IT World. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  16. ^ McCormick, Jason (23 December 2014). "Roche Acquires Bina Technologies' Powerful Genome Analysis Platform". BizJournals. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  17. ^ Han, Andrew P. (22 July 2021). "Scale Biosciences, Still in Stealth Mode, to Develop Single-Cell, Spatial Biology Tech". Genome Web. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  18. ^ Ji, Andrew L.; Rubin, Adam J.; Thrane, Kim; et al. (23 July 2020). "Multimodal Analysis of Composition and Spatial Architecture in Human Squamous Cell Carcinoma". Cell. 182 (6): 1661–1662. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2020.05.039. PMC 7391009. PMID 32579974. S2CID 219982265.
  19. ^ "About". IONPATH. n.d. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  20. ^ Schubarth, Cromwell (16 April 2021). "Biomea Fusion, Akoya Biosciences raise $285 million in IPOs". BizJournals. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  21. ^ Akoya Biosciences (1 September 2021). "Spatial Phenotyping Adds a New Dimension to Discovery Biology". Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  22. ^ Zimmer, Carl (22 March 2018). "Was a Tiny Mummy in the Atacama an Alien? No, but the Real Story Is Almost as Strange". New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  23. ^ Check Hayden, Erika (22 March 2018). "Tiny Mummy's 'Alien' Appearance Finally Explained". National Geographic. Archived from the original on 7 March 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  24. ^ Warren, Matt (22 March 2018). "This strange 'alien' skeleton is actually a human fetus with genetic bone defects". Science. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  25. ^ Strickland, Ashley (22 March 2018). "Researchers finally solve mystery of 'alien' skeleton". CNN. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  26. ^ Armitage, Hanae (22 March 2018). "Mysterious skeleton shows molecular complexity of bone diseases". Stanford University. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  27. ^ Brooks, Jon (14 June 2021). "UFOs: SETI Astronomer, Stanford Researcher, Aerospace Expert Weigh In". KQED. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  28. ^ Nolan, Garry P.; Vallee, Jacques F.; Jiang, Sizun; Lemke, Larry G.; et al. (2022). "Improved instrumental techniques, including isotopic analysis, applicable to the characterization of unusual materials with potential relevance to aerospace forensics". Progress in Aerospace Sciences. 128: 100788. Bibcode:2022PrAeS.12800788N. doi:10.1016/j.paerosci.2021.100788.
  29. ^ Virk, Rizwam (16 April 2021). "The U.S. military takes UFOs seriously. Why doesn't Silicon Valley or academia?". NBC News. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  30. ^ Episode dated August 1st 2022, Tucker Carlson Tonight, 1 August 2022, retrieved 17 August 2022
  31. ^ Keane, Isabel (23 May 2023). "Stanford prof Garry Nolan says aliens are '100%' living among us". New York Post. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  32. ^ Eberhart, Chris (27 May 2023). "Aliens 'have been on Earth a long time': Stanford Professor". Fox News. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  33. ^ Klein, Ezra (20 June 2023). "Transcript: Ezra Klein Interviews Leslie Kean (from What the Heck Is Going on With These U.F.O. Stories?)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 June 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  34. ^ Hanks, Micah (12 September 2023). "The Sol Foundation: How a New Think Tank of Academics is Applying 'Cutting-Edge Research' to the UAP Mystery". The Debrief.
  35. ^ Conger, Krista (19 November 2012). "Nolan wins funds to 'map' lineages in ovarian cancer cells". Stanford University. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
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