Buffy Ellsworth , Ph.D.
Assistant Professor.
bellsworth@siumed.edu

 

Forkhead transcription factors have been implicated in tumor formation, chromatin remodeling and cell fate determination. We are interested in the role of forkhead factors in the pituitary during development and in the adult. Using mouse as a model system, we are studying how forkhead factors regulate gene expression, organ patterning and cell specification during development. We are also interested in how forkhead factors regulate pituitary function in the adult.

The experimental techniques used in our lab include: immunohistochemical analysis and in situ hybridization on embryonic pituitary from knockout mice, transient transfection of immortalized cell lines and primary culture of mouse pituitary cells.

Recent Publications:

Duval DL, Ellsworth BS, Clay CM 1999 Is gonadotrope expression of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor gene mediated by autocrine/paracrine stimulation of an activin response element? Endocrinology 140:1949-1952

Ellsworth BS, White BR, Burns AT, Cherrington BD, Otis AM, Clay CM 2003 c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) activation of AP-1 underlies homologous regulation of the gonadotropin-releasing hormone receptor gene in aT3-1 cells. Endocrinology 144:839-849.

Ellsworth BS, Escudero KW, Burns AT, Duval DL, Nelson SE, Clay CM 2003 The gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) receptor activating sequence (GRAS) is a composite regulatory element that interacts with multiple classes of transcription factors including Smads, AP-1 and a forkhead DNA binding protein. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology 206:93-111.

Ellsworth BS, Egashira N, Haller J, Butts DL, Cocquet J, Clay CM, Osamura RY, Camper SA. 2006 FOXL2 in the Pituitary: Genetic, Molecular and Developmental Analysis. Molecular Endocrinology 20:2796-805.

 Ellsworth BS, Butts DL, Camper SA. 2008 Mechanisms Underlying Pituitary Hypoplasia and Dorsalization of Pre-gonadotropes in Lhx3 Deficient Mice. Developmental Biology, 313:118-29.