Faculty Profile

Michael Ferns
Assoc Professor
Anesthesiology (School of Medicine)
Physiology and Membrane Biology
4218 TUPPER HALL
Office (530) 754 4973
Lab (530) 752 6710
mjferns@ucdavis.edu
[Picture of Michael Ferns]
Synapse formation in mammalian nervous system.

Degrees:
0 - BS - Univ of Otago - Physiology
0 - PhD - Univ of Western Australia - Neurobiology

Department and Center Affiliations:
Anesthesiology & Pain Medicine
Physiology and Membrane Biology

Professional Societies:
Society for Neuroscience
AAAS

Grad Group Affiliations and Specialties:
Cell and Developmental Biology
Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology
Neuroscience

Publications:
Borges, L., & Ferns, M. 2001. Agrin-induced phosphorylation of the acetylcholine receptor regulates cytoskeletal anchoring and clustering. J. Cell Biol. 153:1-11.

Ferns, M., & Carbonetto, S. 2001. Challenging the neurocentric view of neuromuscular synapse formation. (minireview) Neuron 30(2):311-314.

Gingras, J., Rassadi, S., Cooper, E., & Ferns, M. 2002 Agrin plays an organizing role in the formation of sympathetic synapses. J. Cell Biol. 158(6):1109-1118.

Gingras, J., Spicer, J., Altares, M., Zhu, Q., Kuchel, G.A. and Ferns, M. (2005) Agrin becomes concentrated at neuroeffector junctions in developing rodent urinary bladder. Cell & Tissue Research, 320: 115-125.

Gingras, J., Rassadi, S., Cooper, E., and Ferns, M. (2007) Synaptic transmission is impaired at neuronal autonomic synapses in agrin null mice. Dev. Neurobiol. 67(5): 521-534.

Lee, Y., Rudell, J., Yechikhov, S., Taylor, R., Swope, S., and Ferns, M. (2008) Rapsyn carboxyl terminal domains mediate muscle specific kinase-induced phosphorylation of the muscle acetylcholine receptor. Neuroscience, 153: 997-1007.

Borges LS, Yechikhov S, Lee YI, Rudell JB, Friese MB, Burden SJ, Ferns MJ (2008) Identification of a motif in the acetylcholine receptor beta subunit whose phosphorylation regulates rapsyn association and postsynaptic receptor localization. J Neurosci. 28:11468-11476.

Research Interests:
Our research focuses on the cellular and molecular basis of synapse formation in the mammalian nervous system. Synapse formation is critical for the formation, maintenance and plasticity of the nervous system and perturbations in synaptic structure and function have been implicated in a range of neurological disorders. Our research focuses on cholinergic neuromuscular and interneuronal synapses in the peripheral nervous system. Our main aims are (1) to characterize the external trans-synaptic signals that regulate synapse formation and maintenance; and (2) to define the internal protein interactions that regulate the localization and trafficking of the transmitter receptor (nicotinic acetylcholine receptor).

Laboratory Personnel:
Ferns lab / Tupper Hall, Rm 4215 - Jolene Chang, MD/PhD student; John Rudell, PhD student

Courses Taught:
MCP 210A Advanced Physiology - Term(s): Fall
HPH 400 Physiology - Term(s): Fall