Michael John Ferns, B.Sc.(Hons), Ph.D.
Specialties
Anesthesiology
Department
Title
- Professor
Patient Support Services Building
4150 V St., Suite 1200
Sacramento, CA 95817
Driving Directions
Primary Phone:
916-734-5031
Additional Phone Numbers
Department Fax: 916-734-7980
Clinical Interests
Dr. Ferns interest is in disorders of neuromuscular synapses such as myasthenia gravis and congenital myasthenic syndrome. His aim is to understand the pathological basis for these diseases at a molecular level and to define new therapeutic targets for the treatment of these disorders.
Research/Academic Interests
Dr. Fern's interest is in understanding the molecular basis of synapse formation, maintenance and disease in the peripheral nervous system.
His research focuses on cholinergic neuromuscular and autonomic synapses and his main objectives are (1) to define the synaptogenic factors that regulate synapse formation and maintenance; (2) to define the intracellular mechanisms that localize nicotinic acetylcholine receptors at these synapses; and (3) to establish how defects in synapse formation or receptor localization contribute to neurological diseases such as myasthenia gravis and congenital myasthenic syndromes. This includes collaborative studies with clinician-scientists at UC Davis.
Division
Anesthesiology/Physiology
Education
Ph.D., Physiology, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia 1988
B.Sc., University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand 1983
Fellowships
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of Physiology, UC San Francisco, San Francisco CA 1991-1994
Professional Memberships
American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Society for Neuroscience
Honors and Awards
Canadian Institute Health Research Scholarship, 2002
Adler Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1994
University Postgraduate Research Scholarship for Foreign Student, 1987
Select Recent Publications
Maselli RA, Vazquez J, Schrumpf L, Arredondo J, Lara M, Strober JB, Pytel P, Wollmann RL, Ferns M. Presynaptic congenital myasthenic syndrome with altered synaptic vesicle homeostasis linked to compound heterozygous sequence variants in RPH3A. Mol Genet Genomic Med. 2018 [Epub ahead of print].
Rudell JC, Borges LS, Rudell JB, Beck KA, Ferns MJ. Determinants in the β and δ subunit cytoplasmic loop regulate Golgi trafficking and surface expression of the muscle acetylcholine receptor. J Biol Chem. 2014 Jan 3;289(1):203-14.
Rudell JB, Ferns MJ. Regulation of muscle acetylcholine receptor turnover by β subunit tyrosine phosphorylation. Dev Neurobiol. 2013 May;73(5):399-410.
M.J. Ferns, L. Borges, J. Rudell, K. Beck, M. Chang. Determinants in the β and δ subunits regulate Golgi to surface trafficking of the muscle acetylcholine receptor. Society for Neuroscience meeting 2013.
Maselli RA, Arredondo J, Ferns MJ, Wollmann RL. Synaptic basal lamina-associated congenital myasthenic syndromes. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2012 Dec;1275:36-48.
Richman DP, Nishi K, Morell SW, Chang JM, Ferns MJ, Wollmann RL, Maselli RA, Schnier J, Agius MA. Acute severe animal model of anti-muscle-specific kinase myasthenia: combined postsynaptic and presynaptic changes. Arch Neurol. 2012 Apr;69(4):453-60.
Lamb AH, Sheard PW, Ferns MJ: Meritocratic selection hypothesis in the control of motoneuron death during development, Pollack & Bibb, (ed), Developmental Neurobiology of the Frog, Alan R. Liss, New York. 1988;53-76.