Terry Furey

About

Terry Furey is a Professor of Genetics and Biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, serving as the Chair of the CFAC Genomics Core Subcommittee. His research focuses on chromatin and gene regulation, complex traits, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), toxicogenomics, computational biology, and single-cell genomics. He investigates how chromatin structures influence gene transcription and regulation, integrating high-throughput sequence-based assays with gene expression, transcription factor binding, and epigenetic data to understand the complex processes involved. Furey's work on IBD involves partnering with other researchers to uncover molecular determinants of disease phenotypes, particularly examining how changes in gene expression and chromatin landscapes in intestinal cell types contribute to inflammation. His research also explores environmental toxicogenomics, specifically how exposure to inhalational toxicants like ozone affects cellular function through alterations in chromatin architecture and transcriptional profiles. Using human tissue and mouse models, he aims to identify how genetic variation influences these molecular changes, providing insights into health complications related to environmental exposures.

Research topics

• Biology
• Genetics
• Medicine
• Computer Science
• Internal medicine
• Cell biology
• Endocrinology
• Pathology
• Computational biology
• Cancer research

Selected publications

• Integrative QTL analysis of gene expression and chromatin accessibility identifies multi-tissue patterns of genetic regulation

  PLoS Genetics · 2020 · 58 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Gene transcription profiles across tissues are largely defined by the activity of regulatory elements, most of which correspond to regions of accessible chromatin. Regulatory element activity is in turn modulated by genetic variation, resulting in variable transcription rates across individuals. The interplay of these factors, however, is poorly understood. Here we characterize expression and chromatin state dynamics across three tissues-liver, lung, and kidney-in 47 strains of the Collaborative…

  DOI

• Single-Cell Analysis Reveals Unexpected Cellular Changes and Transposon Expression Signatures in the Colonic Epithelium of Treatment-Naïve Adult Crohn’s Disease Patients

  Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology · 2022 · 56 citations

  BACKGROUND & AIMS: The intestinal barrier comprises a monolayer of specialized intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) that are critical in maintaining mucosal homeostasis. Dysfunction within various IEC fractions can alter intestinal permeability in a genetically susceptible host, resulting in a chronic and debilitating condition known as Crohn's disease (CD). Defining the molecular changes in each IEC type in CD will contribute to an improved understanding of the pathogenic processes and the identi…

  DOI

• Nuclear actin structure regulates chromatin accessibility

  Nature Communications · 2024-05-15 · 31 citations

  articleOpen access

  Polymerized β-actin may provide a structural basis for chromatin accessibility and actin transport into the nucleus can guide mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) differentiation. Using MSC, we show that using CK666 to inhibit Arp2/3 directed secondary actin branching results in decreased nuclear actin structure, and significantly alters chromatin access measured with ATACseq at 24 h. The ATAC-seq results due to CK666 are distinct from those caused by cytochalasin D (CytoD), which enhances nuclear actin…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Subcutaneous adipose tissue splice quantitative trait loci reveal differences in isoform usage associated with cardiometabolic traits

  The American Journal of Human Genetics · 2022 · 25 citations

  DOI

• Increased colonic expression of ACE2 associates with poor prognosis in Crohn’s disease

  Scientific Reports · 2021 · 24 citations

  The host receptor for SARS-CoV-2, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), is highly expressed in small intestine. Our aim was to study colonic ACE2 expression in Crohn's disease (CD) and non-inflammatory bowel disease (non-IBD) controls. We hypothesized that the colonic expression levels of ACE2 impacts CD course. We examined the expression of colonic ACE2 in 67 adult CD and 14 NIBD control patients using RNA-seq and quantitative (q) RT-PCR. We validated ACE2 protein expression and localization…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• High throughput functional studies of IBD-associated GWAS variants

  NIH · $2.6M · 2023–2027

• NIH Grant R01ES023195

  NIH · $2.2M · 2018

• Interpreting molecular role of DNA variants associated with Crohn's Disease through integrative analysis of open chromatin, epigenome and transcriptome data in diverse and relevant tissues and cells

  NIH · $588k · 2014–2017

Frequent coauthors

• Gregory E. Crawford

  Durham Technical Community College

  66 shared

• Shehzad Z. Sheikh

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  57 shared

• David Haussler

  University of California, Santa Cruz

  53 shared

• Lingyun Song

  51 shared

• W. James Kent

  University of California, Santa Cruz

  40 shared

• Krishna M. Roskin

  University of Cincinnati

  38 shared

• Nathan C. Sheffield

  University of Virginia

  37 shared

• Matthew R. Schaner

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  34 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Toxicology

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  1990

• M.S., Toxicology

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  1985

• B.S., Toxicology

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  1983

Similar researchers at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Paul Watkinsh-107
• Scott Randellh-100
• Alexander Tropshah-93