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 defence mechanisms and the biology of ageing. He later joined the Target Malaria research consortium as a Senior Research Fellow, where he developed gene drives to control malaria mosquitoes. Moving to Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) 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. Tony also serves as Head of LSTM’s Department of Vector Biology, one of the largest of its kind, encompassing over 20 research groups looking at various aspects of vector-borne disease biology and transmission.

Tony is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and served as the Vice-Chair of the Scientific Committee for the Association for Responsible Research in Genome Editing from 2021 to 2022. He was also a Springboard Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science from 2021 to 2023.

Professor Nolan’s main research interests are vector behaviour and genomics, insecticide resistance, vector pathogen interactions, and vector control.

The Functional Genetics group’s research focuses on three areas, genetic control of mosquito populations to reduce malaria transmission, development of functional genetics tools for the study of key mosquito traits (such as insecticide resistance, mosquito fertility, bloodmeal digestion etc.), and developing and sharing capacity around the molecular biology and genetics, including both knowledge and practical infrastructure - that is needed to accompany the implementation and monitoring of vector control programmes.

The group has active research collaborations with Liverpool John Moores University, Keele University, Imperial College London, PoloGGB at Terni, Italy, Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé, Burkina Faso, University of Sciences, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Mali Uganda Virus Research Institute, and Ifakara Health Research Institute, Tanzania.

Professor Nolan is Co-director MRes in Tropical Health and Infectious Disease Research and lectures on the MSc in Tropical Disease Biology, Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and BSc in Tropical Disease Biology (University of Liverpool).