Summary
Professor Ferrer is chair in Genetics and Medicine, Head of the Section of Epigenomics and Disease, and Lead for Genetics and Genomics in the NIHR Imperial Biomedical Research Centre. He is also a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator. He received his medical degree and trained in Endocrinology in the University of Barcelona School of Medicine. He subsequently trained in genetics and transcriptional regulation in Washington University and Harvard University before returning to Institut d’Investigacions Biomediques August Pi i Sunyer, Barcelona, and CIBERDEM. He then moved to Imperial College London where he established a laboratory based at Imperial Centre for Translational and Experimental Medicine. Since 2018, he is Senior Group Leader in Barcelona's Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG).
Professor Ferrer is interested in understanding genome regulation of pancreatic beta cells and its implications for human diabetes. His team has combined genetic model systems and advanced genomics to address key questions in human beta cell biology, regeneration, and disease.
Selected Publications
Journal Articles
Akerman I, Maestro MA, De Franco E, et al., 2021, Neonatal diabetes mutations disrupt a chromatin pioneering function that activates the human insulin gene, Cell Reports, Vol:35, ISSN:2211-1247
Kalisz M, Bernardo E, Beucher A, et al., 2020, HNF1A recruits KDM6A to activate differentiated acinar cell programs that suppress pancreatic cancer, EMBO Journal, Vol:39, ISSN:0261-4189
Miguel-Escalada I, Bonàs-Guarch S, Cebola I, et al., 2019, Human pancreatic islet three-dimensional chromatin architecture provides insights into the genetics of type 2 diabetes, Nature Genetics, Vol:51, ISSN:1061-4036, Pages:1137-1148
Akerman I, Tu Z, Beucher A, et al., 2017, Human pancreatic β cell incRNAs control cell-specific regulatory networks, Cell Metabolism, Vol:25, ISSN:1932-7420, Pages:400-411
Ferrer J, Cebola I, Rodríguez-Seguí SA, et al., 2015, TEAD and YAP regulate the enhancer network of human embryonic pancreatic progenitors., Nature Cell Biology, Vol:17, ISSN:1476-4679, Pages:615-626
Pasquali L, Gaulton KJ, Rodriguez-Segui SA, et al., 2014, Pancreatic islet enhancer clusters enriched in type 2 diabetes risk-associated variants, Nature Genetics, Vol:46, ISSN:1546-1718, Pages:136-+
Weedon MN, Cebola I, Patch AM, et al., 2014, Recessive mutations in a distal PTF1A enhancer cause isolated pancreatic agenesis, Nature Genetics, Vol:46, ISSN:1061-4036
van Arensbergen J, Garcia-Hurtado J, Angel Maestro M, et al., 2013, Ring1b bookmarks genes in pancreatic embryonic progenitors for repression in adult beta cells, Genes & Development, Vol:27, ISSN:0890-9369, Pages:52-63
Moran I, Akerman I, van de Bunt M, et al., 2012, Human beta Cell Transcriptome Analysis Uncovers IncRNAs That Are Tissue-Specific, Dynamically Regulated, and Abnormally Expressed in Type 2 Diabetes, Cell Metabolism, Vol:16, ISSN:1550-4131, Pages:435-448
van Arensbergen J, Garcia-Hurtado J, Moran I, et al., 2010, Derepression of Polycomb targets during pancreatic organogenesis allows insulin-producing beta-cells to adopt a neural gene activity program, Genome Research, Vol:20, ISSN:1088-9051, Pages:722-732
Gaulton KJ, Nammo T, Pasquali L, et al., 2010, A map of open chromatin in human pancreatic islets, Nature Genetics, Vol:42, ISSN:1061-4036, Pages:255-U41
Solar M, Cardalda C, Houbracken I, et al., 2009, Pancreatic Exocrine Duct Cells Give Rise to Insulin-Producing beta Cells during Embryogenesis but Not after Birth, Developmental Cell, Vol:17, ISSN:1534-5807, Pages:849-860