GROUP LEADER: Jorge Ferrer
POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS: Irene Miguel-Escalada, Miguel Angel Maestro Garriga (CIBERDEM), Edgar Bernardo Vasco, Silvia Bonas Guarch
PhD STUDENTS: Goutham Atla
TECHNICIANS: Vanessa Grau Martinez (CIBERDEM), Javier Garcia Hurtado (CIBERDEM)
LAB MANAGER: Carme Sanahuja Bullo (CIBERDEM)
Diabetes mellitus afflicts more than 400 million people. Current strategies to prevent and treat diabetes are limited by our scant knowledge of the molecular defects that cause diabetes. We focus on understanding changes in genome regulation that lead to monogenic and polygenic diabetes. We study the gene networks that are essential for insulin-producing beta cells to maintain glucose homeostasis, and develop strategies to manipulate these networks in human patients. We are also interested in how gene regulatory mechanisms can be harnessed for regenerative therapies in autoimmune diabetes. To achieve these goals, we combine regulatory genomics, human genetics, and genome engineering in model systems.
Rhodes CJ, Batai K, Bleda M, Haimel M, Southgate L, Germain M, Pauciulo MW, Hadinnapola C, Aman J, Girerd B, Arora A, Knight J, Hanscombe KB, Karnes JH, Kaakinen M, Gall H, Ulrich A, Harbaum L, Cebola I, Ferrer J, et al.
“Genetic determinants of risk in pulmonary arterial hypertension: international genome-wide association studies and meta-analysis”
Lancet Respir Med, doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(18)30409-0, 2018.
Font-Cunill B, Arnes L, Ferrer J, Sussel L, Beucher A, et al.
“Long Non-coding RNAs as Local Regulators of Pancreatic Islet Transcription Factor Genes”
Frontiers in Genetics, Vol: 9, ISSN: 1664-8021, 2018.
Millership SJ, Xavier GDS, Choudhury AI, Bertazzo S, Chabosseau P, Pedroni SMA, Irvine EE, Montoya A, Faull P, Taylor WR, Kerr-Conte J, Pattou F, Ferrer J, et al.
“Neuronatin regulates pancreatic beta cell insulin content and secretion”
Journal of Clinical Investigation, 128:3369-3381, 2018.
Bonas-Guarch S, Guindo-Martinez M, Miguel-Escalada I, Grarup N, Sebastian D, Rodriguez-Fos E, Sanchez F, Planas-Felix M, Cortes-Sanchez P, Gonzalez S, Timshel P, Pers TH, Morgan CC, Moran I, Atla G, Gonzalez JR, Puiggros M, Marti J, Andersson EA, Diaz C, Badia RM, Udler M, Leong A, Kaur V, Flannick J, Jorgensen T, Linneberg A, Jorgensen ME, Witte DR, Christensen C, Brandslund I, Appel EV, Scott RA, Luan J, Langenberg C, Wareham NJ, Pedersen O, Zorzano A, Florez JC, Hansen T, Ferrer J, et al.
“Re-analysis of public genetic data reveals a rare X-chromosomal variant associated with type 2 diabetes”
Nature Comunications, 9:2162, 2018.
Martinez-Sanchez A, Nguyen-Tu M-S, Cebola I, Yavari A, Marchetti P, Piemonti L, de Koning E, Shapiro AMJ, Johnson P, Sakamoto K, Smith DM, Leclerc I, Ashrafian H, Ferrer J, et al.
“MiR-184 expression is regulated by AMPK in pancreatic islets”
FASEB Journal, 32:2587-2600, 2018.
Bonas-Guarch S, Guindo-Martinez M, Miguel-Escalada I, Grarup N, Sebastian D, Rodriguez-Fos E, Sanchez F, Planas-Felix M, Cortes-Sanchez P, Gonzalez S, Timshel P, Pers TH, Morgan CC, Moran I, Atla G, Gonzalez JR, Puiggros M, Marti J, Andersson EA, Diaz C, Badia RM, Udler M, Leong A, Kaur V, Flannick J, Jorgensen T, Linneberg A, Jorgensen ME, Witte DR, Christensen C, Brandslund I, Appel EV, Scott RA, Luan J, Langenberg C, Wareham NJ, Pedersen O, Zorzano A, Florez JC, Hansen T, Ferrer J, et al.
“Re-analysis of public genetic data reveals a rare X-chromosomal variant associated with type 2 diabetes”
Nature Comunications, 9:321, 2018.
Gudmundsdottir V, Pedersen HK, Allebrandt KV, Brorsson C, van Leeuwen N, Banasik K, Mahajan A, Groves CJ, van de Bunt M, Dawed AY, Fritsche A, Steiger H, Simonis-Bik AMC, Deelen J, Kramer MHH, Dietrich A, Huebschle T, Willemsen G, Haering H-U, de Geus EJC, Boomsma DI, Eekhoff EMW, Ferrer J, et al.
“Integrative network analysis highlights biological processes underlying GLP-1 stimulated insulin secretion: A DIRECT study”
PLoS ONE, Vol: 13, ISSN: 1932-6203, 2018.
