Welcome to the Ferrer Lab
The Ferrer Lab at the University of Maryland Baltimore and the Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center studies the ability of cancer cells to initiate, disseminate and metastasize. Our mission is to advance the understanding of metastatic pancreatic cancer and develop new therapeutic strategies to improve patient outcomes.
Our Research
Metastasis is responsible for over 90% of cancer-related deaths. Particularly in pancreatic cancer, the majority of patients present with metastatic disease at diagnosis, for which the 5-year survival rate is only a dismal 7%.
Our work aims to identify novel mechanisms of metastatic dissemination and adaptations of existing metastases with the goal of specifically targeting these tumors.
We use a combination of genetic, pharmacological, in vitro and in vivo techniques to study the cell intrinsic and microenvironmental mechanisms that enhance the survival of metastatic tumors in pancreatic cancer. Our goal is to identify novel therapeutic targets to target dissemination cells, existing metastases and overcome chemoresistance.