Bio

I’m fortunate to have been involved in a variety of interesting projects, both in the patent and research arenas. Most of my research experience has been in pharmacology and toxicology R&D, as shown in the lists below. Some of the diverse patent cases I’ve prepared and/or prosecuted can be found in my resume, which is available on the home page.

How did I get here? Graduate school introduced me to scientific and technical writing, which led me to professional writing employment in the biotechnology industry, which introduced me to patent work, which inspired me to become a Patent Agent. My industry experience after graduate school was instrumental in my transition from viewing research as an undertaking to advance knowledge to seeing the potential value proposition in research, and I haven’t looked back. My career journey has spanned over six states. I’ve lived in Southwest Virginia since 2007.

I enjoy most of everything that is required in patent preparation and prosecution: learning, describing, and fleshing out the innovation, analyzing the prior art and features of the innovation that distinguish/differentiate over the prior art, analyzing the Patent Examiner’s position, technical and persuasive writing, the art of drafting claims, and advocating for the client.

I always put quality of work product ahead of anything else, and regularly keep up-to-date on best practices in preparation and prosecution and evolving case law through various professional patent forums and blogs.

Publications:

Kier LD et al. Applications of microarrays with toxicologically relevant genes (tox genes) for the evaluation of chemical toxicants in Sprague Dawley rats in vivo and human hepatocytes in vitro. Mutat. Res. 549(1-2):101-13, 2004.

Kier L, Nolan T, Sankar U, and Derbel M. Liver necrosis predictive genes. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US20040076974A1.

Nolan T, Sankar U, Kier L, and Derbel M. Liver inflammation predictive genes. U.S. Patent Application Publication No. US20040067507A1.

Nolan TD and Brown D. The influence of elevated dietary zinc, selenium, and their combination on the suppressive effect of dietary and intraperitoneal cadmium on egg production in laying hens. J. Tox. Env. Health, Part A  60:549-565, 2000.

Bauer JA, Nolan T, and Fung HL. Vascular and hemodynamic differences between organic nitrates and nitrites. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 280:326-331, 1997.

Booth BP, Nolan TD, and Fung HL. Nitroglycerin-inhibited whole blood aggregation is partially mediated by calcitonin gene-related peptide: a neurogenic mechanism. Brit. J. Pharmacology 122(3):577-583, 1997.

Abstracts/Poster Presentations:

Nolan TD, and Li A. Reciprocal regulation of cytochrome p450 3a1 and p-glycoprotein by carbon tetrachloride and chloroform. Society of Toxicology 42nd Annual Meeting 2003.

Nolan TD, Hicken S, Suizu R, Farris G, and Farr S. Utility of historical dynamic range data in microarray gene expression analysis. Society of Toxicology 41st Annual Meeting 2002.

Bauer JA, Nolan T, and Fung HL. Differential effects of nitric oxide donors in an in vivo rat model of penile erection. Faseb Journal V9, N4 (Mar 10), PA 921, 1995.