News and events

Emily Heathward wins poster prize at annual BRC Genomics Facility Symposium, November 2018

Members of the Ferrer group presented their work at the annual NIHR Imperial BRC Genomics Facility symposium in 'Genomic Medicine', which took place on the 27th of November 2018. Dr. Inês Cebola and Dr. Santosh Atanur presented their research in two seperate talks on the day, and MRC DTP student Emily Heathward was awarded the top poster prize for her poster on her PhD research, "Single Cell Genomics Strategy for Modelling Mutations in Human Pancreatic Beta Cell Enhancers". 

ZENCODE/Dev/Com Final Meeting,  October 28-31, 2018 in Sounio, Greece.

Developmental and medical genomics with animal models

The central topics of the meeting included developmental genetics, genomics and epigenetics, single cell studies, gene-regulatory evolution and systems biology in the context of developmentally relevant cell systems and animal model systems.

Human pancreatic islet 3D chromatin architecture provides insights into the genetics of type 2 diabetes on Biorxiv

Our latest paper on human islet 3D genome maps ("Human pancreatic islet 3D chromatin architecture provides insights into the genetics of type 2 diabetes") is now available as a preprint on Bioxriv, found here.

This preprint was recently reviewed on "preLights" by Carmen Adriaens, found here.

"From 2D to 3D: A chromatin interactome map of human pancreatic islets provides a 3D view into type 2 diabetes and pancreatic islet biology."

Inês Cebola presents at the Imperial College Academic Health Science Centre (AHSC) seminar series, 2018

Dr Inês Cebola presented at the Imperial College AHSC seminar series on 'New ways of understanding and treating diabetes', giving a talk on the genetic causes of diabetes, including type II diabetes and rare, monogenic forms of diabetes. Her talk can be found at the following link:

Dr. Ines Cebola presents at Imperial AHSC.

Jorge Ferrer received the Albert Renold prize from the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), 2017

Professor Jorge Ferrer was awarded the Albert Renold Prize for outstanding achievement in research on islets of Langerhans by the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. Jorge delivered the presitigious Albert Renold Lecture at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes 53rd Annual Meeting in Lisbon in September 2017.

The EASD released the following statement: 

“Collectively, this work highlights the power of new genomic technologies to unravel the molecular underpinnings of diabetes."

"It has revealed DNA variants that affect human disease not through the direct disruption of genes, but by altering the switches that control genes that are essential for beta cell function. This exposes networks that can be targeted to develop more effective therapies to halt this devastating disease."

Delphine Rolando received the Postdoc Development Centre (PDC) Reps award, September 2017

Of the 75 PDC Reps across the college, a total of 11 were nominated for the 2017 PDC Rep Awards, which recognises PDC Representatives for their significant contribution to the Postdoc community through their roles. Each of these individuals has excelled in their role as departmental Reps and there is evidence that there is a real cultural change within their department as a result of their work. In recognition of their extraordinary work, the Individual Rep Award winner receives £500 toward a conference or workshop of their choice.

Delphine Rolando from the Department of Medicine was the winner of the Individual Rep Award, which was presented by the Provost, Professor James Stirling. Claire Morgan (also from the Ferrer Lab) previously received the PDC Reps Award in August 2015. Below is an extract from what was written in one of the nomination forms which was read out by the Provost.

“Delphine Rolando has made significant contribution to postdoctoral life at the Hammersmith campus. She has worked tirelessly over the past year towards improving postdoc life on campus and ensuring that opportunities for postdocs to learn and grow are available on the Hammersmith campus. Delphine is the one leading the organisation of activities and meetings, such as a careers fair where she recruited 7 former postdocs from industry and the IC Biomedical Symposium for which funding was obtained from six companies who agreed sponsor the event. These are just some examples of her effective leadership in this role.”

Read our recent review on transcriptional enhancers and disease, September 2015

Transcriptional enhancers: functional insights and role in human disease [pdf]‌