Simón Méndez-Ferrer

Professor Méndez-Ferrer gained his PhD in 2004 from The Department of Medical Physiology at the University of Seville in Spain. His Thesis characterized properties of the carotid body which is of potential interest for neuroregenerative strategies which in turn is based on the biological delivery of catecholamines and neurotrophic factors. From 2006-9, Dr Mendez- Ferrer worked as a post-doc at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, USA and discovered that hematopoietic stem cell traffic is regulated by circadian oscillations.

His subsequent work as an Assistant Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York) and at the Spanish National Centre for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC, Madrid) (2009-10) identified self-renewing mesenchymal stem cells that have a crucial role in the hematopoietic stem cell niche. Dr Mendez-Ferrer moved to Cambridge in 2015 as Reader and later on Professor at the Department of Hematology (University of Cambridge), Group Leader at the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute and PI at NHS Blood and Transplant. He now focuses on investigating novel physiological mechanisms that regulate the stem cell niche and contribute to pathogenesis.

Blood stem cells reside in specialised niches, which allows them to self-renew, proliferate, differentiate and migrate according to the organism's requirements. His research has revealed multisystem regulatory mechanisms by which the haematopoietic stem cell niche fulfils these complex functions and how the deregulation of these mechanisms contributes to haematological disorders. His research has discovered a connection between the bone marrow, the brain and other systemic signals, which regulate the behaviour of blood stem cells.