Garry Nolan

Dr. Nolan’s laboratory focuses on the analysis of biological events at the single cell level using novel genetic and FACS-based approaches at the intersection of immunology, autoimmunity, biochemistry, and cancer. The laboratory studies phospho-protein immune cell and cancer signaling, and other metabolic parameters by analysis of biochemical functions at the single cell level in primary cell populations. This includes interrogation of cancer (Cell, 2004) and immune signaling networks in complex cell populations (Science, 2005), drug screening approaches (Nature Methods, 2005, (cover article), Nature Chemistry and Biology, 2007a, Nature Chemistry and Biology, 2007b (cover article)) and using multiparameter data to stratify signaling maps from patient samples, (Cancer Cell, 2008, cover article). Other major interest areas of the laboratory include mapping of signaling networks within complex populations of immune cells, developing systems biology approaches to develop an atlas of immune cell differentiation (Nature Biotechnology, In Press, 2011), the development of mechanism-based diagnostics for use in clinical trial studies. The data generated at the single cell level ranges from 10-15 parameters per cell (hundreds of thousands of cells per sample, and dozens of samples per experiment) to up to 50-100 parameters per cell using a new mass spectrometer flow cytometer we have co-developing and recently published upon (Bendall et al, Science, 2011). To analyze these datasets and infer signaling networks within each cell subpopulation, we have developed novel hardware (Field Programmable Gate Arrays and GPUs tethered to standard CPUs with novel compiler/distributor architecture) to implement the more computationally intensive algorithms we are using for our Bayesian inference and other bioinformatics approaches. The combination of hardware/software/biology applied in the laboratory to clinical samples sits at the edge of the translational arena in that we focus on developing techniques that can provide mechanistically relevant answers to clinicians while simultaneously helping biologist answer questions of basic importance to biology.