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Stephen Ferguson is an Investigator within the Mechanistic Toxicology Branch of the Division of Translational Toxicology (DTT) leading multiple research initiatives to model and predict human responses to chemical exposures. His principal focus seeks to advance the development, qualification, and application of physiologically relevant in vitro screening models and microphysiological systems (MPS) that emulate integrated aspects of tissue functionality (e.g., liver, kidney) and biological response to xenobiotic exposures (e.g., per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), botanical mixtures, human therapeutics).
Prior to joining the DTT, Ferguson led the ADME-Tox R&D program of Life Technologies (now Thermo-Fisher) where he and his team developed advanced in vitro liver models and assay systems to predict human drug metabolism, transport, drug-drug interactions and hepatotoxicity. He received his BS and PhD degrees in chemistry and biotechnology from North Carolina State University, and currently serves as adjunct faculty to the Curriculum in Toxicology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Publications
Negi C, Chan C, Tsai H, Alshammari I, Sakolish C, Chiu W, Hewitt P, Ferguson S, Villenave R, Bitounis D, Rusyn I. Assessing drug-induced liver injury liabilities in human and animal hepatocytes under static and perfused spheroid culture conditions. Toxicological sciences : an official journal of the Society of Toxicology. 2026 Sep 02;209(9):. Abstract]
Adesina P, Zhang L, Sukhawanit C, Wood S, Zhao J, Li Z, Sakamuru S, Ferguson S, Hsieh J, Reif D, Huang R, Xia M. Screening the Tox21 Compound Library for Chemicals That Stimulate the Adrenergic β1 Receptor. Chemical research in toxicology. 2026 Aug 17;39(8):1508-1517. [ Abstract]
LaFollette M, Blinova K, Daniel A, Dalmas D, Richardson E, Marsh G, Shoemaker J, Seo J, Vukasinovic J, Word L, Baran S, Kostrzewski T, Kang W, Sadrieh N, Ferguson S. Introduction to the 3RsC's cross-platform microphysiological systems evaluation for drug-induced liver injury in collaboration with FDA-CDER. Regulatory toxicology and pharmacology : RTP. 2026 Jul 26;172:106189. [ Abstract]
Xu T, Ooka M, Zhao J, Sakamuru S, Ngan D, Zhang L, Yang S, Travers J, Xia M, Zhao T, Klumpp-Thomas C, Zhu H, Hall M, Ferguson S, Shaw N, Reif D, Simeonov A, Huang R. Expanded Tox21 Biological Assay Panel for the Prediction of Drug-Induced Liver Injury and Cardiotoxicity. Environmental health perspectives. 2026 Jul 07;134(3):361-374. [ Abstract]
Ooka M, Adesina P, Goyal V, Zhao J, Li S, Feldman G, TeKrony C, Blivis D, Harouni M, Hall M, Ferguson S, Reif D, Voss T, Huang R, Xia M. Comprehensive profiling of metal compound toxicity: potential novel targets and mechanistic insights using Tox21 screening. Journal of hazardous materials advances. 2026 Feb;21:. [ Abstract]
More Recent Publications from PubMed
Hazardous chemicals, data science challenges on tap at DNTP meeting