People
The Ferrer Lab is based in the Department of Pharmacology & Physiology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore and the Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC).
Principal investigator
Dr. Ferrer began her career as a cancer biologist in the Reginato Lab at Drexel University College of Medicine and completed her postdoctoral training in the Mostoslavsky Lab at the MGH Cancer Center, where she developed an interest in the molecular mechanisms underlying pancreatic cancer metastasis.
She launched her independent lab in 2022 and has since been named a Forbeck Foundation Scholar, a V Scholar, and a recipient of the Laure Aurelian Biomedical Research Award.
cferrer@som.umaryland.edu ↗Lab members
Senior Research Specialist
Alejandro manages the lab’s day-to-day operations and leads our work on genotype-linked purine-salvage dependencies in CDKN2A/MTAP-deficient pancreatic cancer. Together with Natasha, he performs the lab’s orthotopic tumor studies.
aroman@som.umaryland.edu
PhD Candidate, Molecular Medicine
Garis studies how differences in tumor-cell CD47 expression control macrophage-mediated pruning and CXCL5-driven invasion in metastatic pancreatic cancer.
2025 Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Graduate Fellow, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
garis.grant@som.umaryland.edu
PhD Candidate, Molecular Medicine
Deborah studies how slow-cycling, drug-tolerant persister cells survive chemotherapy and KRAS-pathway inhibition, and how they later re-enter the cell cycle.
ddelgadoherrera@som.umaryland.edu
PhD Student, Molecular Medicine
Natasha studies how metastatic pancreatic cancer cells use purine salvage to promote immune evasion. She also works with Ale on the lab’s orthotopic models and on genotype-linked purine-salvage dependencies in CDKN2A/MTAP-deficient tumors.
Natasha.Coutinho@som.umaryland.eduFormer lab members
Former lab member
Riyan worked primarily on Garis's macrophage and tumor-cell project. She also contributed to the lab's GSTT1/FGFR project.
Collaborators
The Ferrer Lab works with colleagues across UMSOM and UMGCCC whose expertise complements our studies of metastatic cancer.
Breast cancer metastasis
Breast cancer metastasis
Breast cancer metastasis
Pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer