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[4] and the cloning of the NF-κB p65/ RelA DNA regulatory factor.
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,[8] proof that the NFAT transcription factor is both a REL protein and a key determinant in HIV replication,[9][10] and development of multiplexing technologies for tissue analysis, such as MIBI and CODEX, and the algorithmic approaches needed to understand them.
In 1996, Nolan founded the biotechnology company Rigel, Inc. with colleagues Donald Payan, James Gower, Thomas Raffin, and Ronald Garren in South San Francisco.
[22][23] 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.
[24][25][26][27][28] 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".