Betsy Ferguson

The Ferguson Laboratory is investigating the genetic basis of four traits in macaques that serve as naturally occurring models for human diseases: age-related macular degeneration, early-onset dominant drusen, progressive demyelinating disease, and HPA axis dysregulation. Using both genomic and targeted gene approaches, we are investigating the contributions of inherited genotypes and epigenetic modification to risk for disease.  The approaches gain power from the fact that the disease states can be traced through multiple generations, supported by complete medical records and a comprehensive DNA bank repository.  Genetic characterization of the animal models informs the design of therapeutic treatment strategies, including gene and stem cell therapies.

The Ferguson lab is also developing novel genetic tools for use in the study of nonhuman primates. Both whole genome and transcriptome sequencing methods facilitate the discovery of SNP variants in the rhesus, cynomolgus and Japanese macaque genomes.  The genetic variants are used in the design of SNP arrays for linkage studies or for discerning animal parentage and geographic ancestry.  The sequence variants also enable comparative population studies that support animal model development.  These studies have led to the establishment of SNP arrays that are now used to evaluate the ancestries of macaques across all of the National Primate Research Centers, improving the breeding management and reproducibility of research for ancestry-sensitive studies.

 

BIOGRAPHY

Betsy Ferguson is an Associate Scientist in the Division of Neuroscience.  She received a B.S. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Massachusetts in 1981 and a Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Washington in 1990. As a postdoctoral fellow, she was recipient of a Life Sciences Research Foundation Award, and studied cell-cell signaling both in the Dept. of Developmental Biology at Stanford University and in the Institute of Molecular Biology at the University of Oregon. She is an Associate Professor in the Molecular and Medical Genetics Dept. at OHSU, joined the Center in 2003, and became the Director of the Primate Genetics Program in 2008.  Dr. Ferguson also holds an appointment as a Research Scientist at the Washington National Primate Research Center in Seattle, Washington.

 

KEY PUBLICATIONS 

 

Rhesus Macaque Genome Sequencing and Analysis Consortium. (2007) Evolutionary and biomedical insights from the rhesus macaque genome.  Science 316:222-234. 

Street SL, Kyes RC, Grant R and Ferguson B (2007) Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are highly conserved in rhesus (Macaca mulatta) and cynomolgus (Macaca fascicularis) macaques. BMC Genomics 8:480.

Francis PJ, Appukuttan B, Simmons E, Landauer N, Stoddard J, Hamon S, Ott J, Ferguson B, Klein M, Stout JT, and Neuringer M. (2008) Rhesus monkeys and humans share common susceptibility genes for age-related macular disease.  Hum Mol Genet  17:2673-2680.

Dighe, V., Clepper, L., Pedersen, D., Byrne, J., Ferguson B, Gokhale, S., Penedo, M.C., Wolf, D., Mitalipov, S. (2008).  Heterozygous embryonic stem cell lines derived from nonhuman primate parthenotes.  Stem Cells 26(3):756-66.

Karl, J.A., Wiseman, R.W., Campbell, K.J., Blasky, A.J., Hughes, A.L., Ferguson, B., Read, D.S, and O’Connor, D.H. (2008). Identification of MHC class I sequences in Chinese-origin rhesus macaques. Immunogenetics 60(1):37-46.

Dietrich, E.A., Brennan, G., Ferguson, B., Wiseman, R.W., O’Connor, D., and Hu, S.L. (2011). Variable prevalence and functional diversity of the antiretroviral restriction factor TRIMCyp in Macaca fascicularis. J Virol 85(19):9956-63. 

See a full listing of Dr. Ferguson's publications.