Professor Tony Nolan

Chair in Functional Genetics

Professor Tony Nolan began his career at Imperial College, where he earned a BSc in Applied Biology and completed a PhD focused on developing transformation technologies for malaria mosquito vectors. His postdoctoral research at the University of Rome "La Sapienza" and University College London explored genome defense mechanisms and the biology of aging. He later joined the Target Malaria research consortium as a Senior Research Fellow, where he developed gene drives to control malaria mosquitoes. Moving to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in 2019, he established an independent research group and, in 2023, was appointed to Chair in Functional Genetics, focusing on innovative genetic tools and strategies for mosquito control.

Our group's research focuses on three areas:

1 - Genetic control of mosquito populations in order to control malaria transmission
2 - Development of functional genetics tools for the study of key mosquito traits (such as insecticide resistance, mosquito fertility, bloodmeal digestion etc.)
3 - Developing and sharing capacity around the molecular biology and genetics - both knowledge and practical infrastructure - that is needed to accompany the implementation and monitoring of vector control programmes

We have active research collaborations in the UK and EU (Liverpool John Moores; Keele; Imperial College; PoloGGB at Terni, Italy) and in Africa (IRSS, Burkina Faso; USTTB, Bamako, Mali; Uganda Virus Research Institute, Entebbe; Ifakara Health Research Institute, Tanzania)

Teaching

Co-director MRes in Tropical Health and Infectious Disease Research
Lecturer, MSc in Tropical Disease Biology
Lecturer, Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Lecturer, BSc in Tropical Disease Biology (University of Liverpool)

Further relevant expertise, professional memberships, awards

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Springboard Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (2021-2023)
Vice-Chair of Scientific Committee, ARRIGE (Association for Responsible Research in Genome Editing) 2021-2022

Recent publications: 

    Selected publications

    • Gene-drive suppression of mosquito populations in large cages as a bridge between lab and field
      A Hammond, P Pollegioni, T Persampieri, A North, R Minuz, A Trusso, A Bucci, K Kyrou, I Morianou, A Simoni, T Nolan, R Müller, A Crisanti
      Nature communications 12 (1), 1-9

      Control of malaria-transmitting mosquitoes using gene drives T Nolan Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B (2021) Vol 367, Issue 1818

      Regulation of gene drive expression increases its invasive potential and mitigates resistance A Hammond, X Karlsson, I Morianou, K Kyrou, A Beaghton, M Gribble, N Kranjc, R Galizi, A Burt, A Crisanti, T Nolan PLoS Genetics (2021) 17(1): e1009321

      A male-biased sex-distorter gene drive for the human malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. Simoni A, Hammond AM, Beaghton AK, Galizi R, Taxiarchi C, Kyrou K, Meacci D, Gribble M, Morselli G, Burt A, Nolan T, Crisanti A. Nature Biotechnology 2020 May 11

      Toward the Definition of Efficacy and Safety Criteria for Advancing Gene Drive-Modified Mosquitoes to Field Testing. James SL, Marshall JM, Christophides GK, Okumu FO, Nolan T. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2020 Apr;20(4):237-251.

      A CRISPR-Cas9 gene drive targeting doublesex causes complete population suppression in caged Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes Kyrou K, Hammond AM, Galizi R, Kranjc N, Burt A, Beaghton AK, Nolan T and Crisanti A Nature Biotechnology 2018, 36, pages1062–1066

      The dynamics of creation and selection of mutations resistant to a gene drive over multiple generations in the malaria mosquito A Hammond, K Kyrou, M Bruttini, A North, R Galizi, X Karlsson, F Carpi, R D’Aurizio, A Crisanti and T Nolan PLoS Genetics 2017, Oct 9

      A CRISPR-based Gene Drive System Targeting Female Reproduction in the Malaria Mosquito. A Hammond, R Galizi, K Kyrou, A Simoni, C Siniscalchi, D Katsanos, M Gribble, D Baker, E Marois, S Russell, A Burt, N Windbichler, A Crisanti and T Nolan. Nature Biotechnology 34,78–83 (2016)