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Raetzman, Lori T.
Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology
B.A. Ripon College
Ph.D. Case Western Reserve University
Research Areas
Research in my laboratory is focused on understanding the role of cell-cell signaling during pituitary development. We hypothesize that the Notch signaling pathway may play an important role in the proliferation and lineage specific differentiation of progenitor cells in the embryonic pituitary. The Notch signaling pathway is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism that orchestrates cell fate choices in a broad spectrum of developmental systems. Many components of the Notch pathway are present in the developing pituitary, but their function in this system is unknown.
Another area of interest is how signals from the brain influence pituitary development. The diencephalon lies in direct apposition to the pituitary and is a source of FGFs, BMPs and WNTs. These molecules all can influence the specification of pituitary cells alone and possibly in concert with Notch signaling.
We are interested in uncovering the role of Notch signaling in the normal development of the pituitary and in pituitary disease. We are exploring if Notch signaling is necessary and sufficient for obtaining the full complement of cells in the pituitary by employing transgenic and knockout mice. These studies also take advantage of molecular genetic techniques and whole animal physiology.
Representative Publications
Tang H., Brennan J., Karl J., Hamada Y., Raetzman L., and B. Capel. 2008. Notch signaling maintains Leydig progenitor cells in the mouse testis. Development 135: 3745-53.
Geffner M.E., Demay M., Raetzman L., Holm I., Diamanti-Kandarakis E., Savage M.O., Francis G., and A.D. Rogol. 2008. The 88th Annual Meeting of the Endocrine Society, June 24-27, 2006, Boston MA, USA: selected pediatric presentations. Pediatr Endocrinol Rev. 5: 789-95.
Schultz-Norton J.R., Walt K.A., Ziegler Y.S., McLeod I.X., Yates J.R., Raetzman L.T., and A.M. Nardulli. 2007. The DNA Repair Protein Flap Endonuclease-1 (FEN-1) Modulates Estrogen-Responsive Gene Expression. Mol. Endo. 21: 1569-80.
Ward R.D., Davis S.W., Cho M., Esposito C., Lyons R.H., Cheng J.-F., Rubin E.M., Rhodes S.J., Raetzman L.T., Smith T.P.L., and S.A. Camper. 2007. Comparative genomics reveals functional transcriptional control sequences in the Prop1 gene. Mamm. Genome: 18, 521-37.
Raetzman L.T., Cai, J.X., and S.A. Camper. 2007. Hes1 is required for pituitary growth and melanotrope specification. Dev. Biol. 304: 255-66.
Raetzman L.T., Wheeler B.S., Ross S.A., Thomas P.Q., and S.A. Camper. 2006. Persistent Notch2 expression delays gonadotrope differentiation. Mol. Endo. 20: 2898-2908.
Ward R.D., Stone B.M., Raetzman L.T., and S.A. Camper. 2006. Cell Proliferation and Vascularization in mouse models of pituitary hormone deficiency. Mol. Endo.
Vesper A., Raetzman L.T., and S.A. Camper S.A. 2006. Role of prophet of Pit1 (PROP1) in gonadotrope differentiation and puberty. Endocrinology 147(4):1654-63.
Additional Information
Related Research (By Area):
Cell Signaling and Communication
Development
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