Education

B.A.     Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, l982
            Biology, cum laude

Ph.D    University of California, Berkeley, l988
            Neurobiology (Dr. David R. Bentley, mentor)

Professional Experience:

1988 – 1994                Postdoctoral Fellow and Associate, University of California, San

Francisco and Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of      Physiology, (Dr. Louis F. Reichardt, mentor)

1994 – 2000                Assistant Professor, Department of Biology and WWAMI Medical

            Program, Montana State University,

1995 – present            Affiliate Faculty, Department of Biological Structure, University of

                                    Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, WA.

2000 – 2006                Associate Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience

                                    and WWAMI Medical Program, Montana State University, 7/00-5/06

2006 – present            Professor, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience and WWAMI

                                    Medical Program, Montana State University, 5/06-present.

2010                            Visiting Professor, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy

2012- 2016                 Head, Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, Montana State University

2013 – 2015                Co-Founder and Interim Director, Center for Mental Health Research

                                    and Recovery, Montana State University.

Fall, 2017                    Visiting Researcher, Dysautonomia Center, NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY.

Oct. 2019                    Co-Director, Scientific Advisory Board, Familial Dysautonomia Foundation         

Honors and Awards:

• Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, Selected by NIH

as an Alternate, Fall l996

• Wiley Award for Meritorious Research, Montana State University, May 2010.
• Provost Distinguished Lecturer Award, Montana State University, Nov 2013.
• Montana NAMI, Hero award, Nov. 2015
• Distinguished Professor Award, College of Letters and Science, MSU, October, 2016-2019

Publications

Lefcort, F. and Bentley, D. l987. Pathfinding by pioneer neurons in isolated, opened and mesoderm-free limb buds of embryonic grasshoppers. Developmental Biology 119: 466-480.

Lefcort, F. and Bentley, D. l989. Organization of cytoskeletal elements and organelles preceding growth cone emergence from an identified neuron in situ. J. Cell Biology 108: 1737-1749.

Condic, M.L., Lefcort, F., and Bentley, D. l989. Selective recognition between embryonic afferent neurons of grasshopper appendages in vitro. Developmental Biology 135: 221-230.

Reichardt, L.F., Bossy, B., Carbonetto, S., de Curtis, I., Emmett, C., Hall, D.E., Ignatius, M.J., Large, T., Lefcort, F., Napolitano, E., Neugebauer, K.M., and Tomaselli, K.J. l990. Neuronal receptors that regulate axon growth. Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology. 55: 341-350.

Lefcort, F., Venstrom K., McDonald, J.A., and Reichardt, L.F. l992. Regulation of expression of fibronectin and its receptor a5b1 during development and regeneration of peripheral nerve. Development. 116: 762-782.

Lefcort, F., Clary, D.O., Rusoff, A., and L.F. Reichardt. l996. Inhibition of the NT-3 receptor TrkC, early in chick embryogenesis, results in severe reductions in several neuronal subpopulations in the dorsal root ganglion. J.Neuroscience. 16 (11):3704-3713.

C.S. Von Bartheld, R. Williams, F. Lefcort, D.O.Clary, L.F. Reichardt and M. Bothwell. l996. Retrograde transport of neurotrophins from the eye to the brain in chick embryos: role of p75 and trkB receptors. J.Neuroscience.16(9):2995-3008.

Shepherd, I., I.Yuo, F.Lefcort and J.A.Raper.1997. A sensory axon repellent secreted from ventral spinal cord explants is neutralized by antibodies raised against collapsin. Development. 124(7): 1377-85.

Oakley, R.A., F.Lefcort, D.Clary, Reichardt, L.F., Prevette, D., R.Oppenheim and E.Frank. l997. Neurotrophin-3 promotes the survival and differentiation of muscle spindle afferents in the absence of peripheral targets. J. Neuroscience 17(11): 4262-74.

Gallo, G., F, Lefcort, and Letourneau, P.C.l997.The trkA receptor mediates growth cone turning toward a localized source of nerve growth factor. J.Neuroscience.17(14): 5445-54.

Von Holst, A., F. Lefcort, and H. Rohrer. l997. TrkA expression levels of sympathetic neurons correlate with NGF responsiveness during development and after treatment with retinoic acid. European Journal of Neuroscience , 9(10).  P 2169-77.

Karlsson, M. D. O.Clary, F. Lefcort, LF. Reichardt, H.Karten, F. Hallbook. l998. The Nerve Growth factor receptor TrkA is expressed by horizontal and amacrine cells during chicken retinal development. J. Comp. Neurol. 400:408-416.

Hapner, S.J., K.Boeshore, T.H.Large and F. Lefcort. l998. Neural differentiation promoted by truncated trkC in collaboration with p75^NTR. Developmental Biology, 201: 90-100.

Cochran, S.L, J.S. Stone, O.Bermingham-McDonogh, S.R. Akers, F. Lefcort, EW Rubel. l999. Ontogenetic expression of neurotrophin trk receptors in the chick auditory system. J.Comp. Neurol. 413:271-288.

Oakley, R.A., Lefcort, F.B., Plouffe, P., Ritter, A. and Frank, E. (2000).  Neurotrophin-3 promotes the survival of a limited subpopulation of cutaneous sensory neurons.  Developmental Biology, 224 (2):415-27.

Rifkin, J.T., V.J.Todd, L.W. Anderson and F. Lefcort. 2000. Dynamic expression of neurotrophin receptors during sensory neuron genesis and differentiation. Developmental Biology, 227:465-80.

Nelson, B.R., S. Matsuhashi, and F. Lefcort. 2002. Restricted neural epidermal growth factor-Like like 2 (Nell2) expression during muscle and neuronal differentiation.  Mech. Of Dev. 119S :11-19.

Nelson, B.R. M. Sadhu, J. C. Kasemeier, L. W. Anderson, and F. Lefcort (2004).  Identification of genes regulating sensory neuron genesis and differentiation in the  avian dorsal root ganglia. 29(3):618-29. Developmental Dynamics

Nielson, K. ,Chaverra, M.,  Zigmond, R. and Lefcort, F. (2004). PACAP induces differentiation of DRG neurons: abrogation by NT-3 and CNTF.  Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, 25: 629-641.

Nelson, B.R., K.Claes, M.Chaverra, V. Todd and Lefcort, F.  (2004). NELL2 promotes Motor and sensory neuron differentiation and stimulates mitogenesis in DRG in vivo. Developmental Biology, 270: 322-335.

Kasemeier, J.C., F. Lefcort, S.E. Fraser and P. Kulesa. (2004). A novel sagittal slice explant technique for time-lapse imaging of the formation of the chick peripheral nervous system. Symposia; In Imaging in neuroscience and development (ed. R.Yuste and A. Konnerth). Cold Spring Harbor, NY. Cold  Spring Harbor Press.

Kasemeier-Kulesa, J.C., Paul M. Kulesa, and Lefcort, F. (2005). Imaging neural crest cell

Dynamics during formation of dorsal root ganglia and sympathetic ganglia.  Development, 132:  235-245.

Hurley, S., Douglas Clary, Valerie Copie and Lefcort, F. (2006). Anaplastic lymphoma kinase is dynamically expressed on subsets of motor neurons and in the peripheral nervous system. Journal of Comparative Neurology 495(2):202-12.

Hapner, S.J., Chaverra, M., Nielson, K.M., Esper, R., Loeb, J. and Lefcort, F. (2006). NT-3 and CNTF exert dose-dependent, pleiotropic effects on cells in the immature         dorsal root ganglion: Neuregulin-mediated proliferation of progenitor cells and neuronal differentiation. Developmental Biology 297(1):182-97.

Lefcort, Frances, Timothy O’Connor and Paul Kulesa. (2006). A comparative analysis of       neural crest cell and axonal growth cone dynamics and behavior. Intracellular Mechanisms in Neuritogenesis   Editor, Ivan DeCurtis, Springer-Verlag.

Kasemeier-Kulesa, J.C., Bradley, R., Pasquale, E., Lefcort, F. and Kulesa, P.M.(2006). Eph/ephrins and N-cadherin coordinate to control the pattern of sympathetic ganglia.  Development. 133(24):4839-47.

Kasemeier-Kulesa, J.C., F. Lefcort, and P. M. Kulesa. (2007). Sagittal explant culture for 3D confocal time-lapse analysis of chick peripheral nervous. system formation. CSH Protocols. Cold Spring Harbor Labs Press.

George, L., M. Chaverra, V. Todd, R. Lansford and Lefcort, F. (2007). Nociceptive  sensory neurons derive from contralaterally migrating, fate restricted neural crest  cells. Nature Neuroscience 10 (10): 1287-93.

Lefcort, F. and George, L. (2007).  Neural crest cell fate: to be or not to be prespecified. Cell Adhesion and Migration, 1(4): 199-201.

Kulesa PM, Lefcort F, Kasemeier-Kulesa JC. (2009). The migration of autonomic precursor cells in the embryo. Auton Neurosci. 151(1):3-9.

George, L., J. Kasemeier-Kulesa, B.R. Nelson, and F. Lefcort.  (2010). Patterned  assembly and neurogenesis in the avian dorsal root ganglion. J. Comp. Neurol. 518(4):405-22. (Cover photo).

Kasemeier-Kulesa, J., P.M. Kulesa, and F. Lefcort  (2010). CXCR4 controls ventral migration of sympathetic precursor cells.  Journal of Neuroscience. 30(39):13078-88.

Hunnicutt BJ, Chaverra M, George L, Lefcort F. 2012. IKAP/Elp1 is required in vivo for neurogenesis and neuronal survival, but not for neural crest migration. PLoS One.7(2):e32050

George, L. Chaverra, M., Wolfe, L., Thorne, J., M. Close-Davis, A. Eibs, V.  Riojas, A.

Grindeland, M. Orr, G. Carlson and F. Lefcort. 2013. Familial Dysautonomia model reveals Ikbkap deletion causes apoptosis of Pax3+ progenitors and peripheral neurons, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 110 (46):18698-703.

Kasemeier-Kulesa, J.C., Morrison, J.A., F. Lefcort, and PM Kulesa. 2015.  TrkB/BDNF

signaling patterns the sympathetic nervous system. Nature Comm. 6:8281-9.

George L., Dunkel, H., Hunnicutt, B.J., Filla, M., Little, C., Lansford, R. and Lefcort. F.  2016.  In vivo time-lapse imaging reveals extensive neural crest and endothelial cell  interactions during formation of the peripheral nervous system. Developmental  Biology. 413(1): 70-85.

Ueki, Y., Ramirez, G., Stabio, M. and Lefcort, F. 2016.  Loss of Ikap causes slow, progressive retinal degeneration in a mouse model of Familial Dysautonomia. eNeuro 3:(5).

Lefcort F, Mergy M, Ohlen SB, Ueki Y, George L. 2017.  Animal and cellular models of       familial dysautonomia.  Clin Auton Res. 27(4):235-243.

Ohlen SB, Russell ML, Brownstein MJ, Lefcort F. 2017. BGP-15 prevents the death of neurons in a mouse model of familial dysautonomia.  Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A.

Chaverra M, George L, Mergy M, Waller H, Kujawa K, Murnion C, Sharples E, Thorne J, Podgajny N, Grindeland A, Ueki Y, Eiger S, Cusick C, Babcock AM, Carlson GA, Lefcort F. 2017. The familial dysautonomia disease gene IKBKAP is required in the developing and adult mouse central nervous system.  Dis Model Mech. 10(5):605-618

Lefcort F. 2017. Rethinking the autonomic nervous system: genetics and cell fate. Clin Auton Res. 28(2):165-166

Goffena,J., Lefcort,F., Zhang,Y., Lehrmann, E., Chaverra, M., Felig, J., Walters,J., Buksch, R., Becker,K. and George.L. 2018. Elongator and codon bias regulate protein levels in mammalian peripheral neurons.  Nature Comm. 9 (1):889

Ueki Y, Shchepetkina V, Lefcort F. 2018.  Retina-specific loss of Ikbkap/Elp1 causes mitochondrial dysfunction that leads to selective retinal ganglion cell degeneration in a mouse model of familial dysautonomia. Dis Model Mech;11(7)

Dunkel H, Chaverra M, Bradley R, Lefcort F. 2020. FGF signaling is required for chemokinesis and ventral migration of trunk neural crest cells. Dev Dyn. 249(9):1077-1097

Lefcort, F. 2020. Development of the autonomic nervous system: clinical implications.  Seminars in Neurology 40(5): 473-484

Dunkel H, Chaverra M, Bradley R, Lefcort F.2020. FGF signaling is required for chemokinesis and ventral migration of trunk neural crest cells. Dev Dyn. 249(9):1077-1097.

Bone biomechanical properties and tissue-scale bone quality in a genetic mouse model of familial dysautonomia.

Vahidi G, Flook H, Sherk V, Mergy M, Lefcort F, Heveran CM.Osteoporos Int. 2021 Nov;32(11):2335-2346.

Loss of Elp1 perturbs histone H2A.Z and the Notch signaling pathway.

Cameron B, Lehrmann E, Chih T, Walters J, Buksch R, Snyder S, Goffena J, Lefcort F, Becker KG, George L.Biol Open. 2021 Sep 15;10(9):bio058979.

Elp1 is required for development of visceral sensory peripheral and central circuitry.

Tolman Z, Chaverra M, George L, Lefcort F.Dis Model Mech. 2022 May 1;15(5):dmm049274.

Loss of Elp1 disrupts trigeminal ganglion neurodevelopment in a model of familial dysautonomia.

Leonard CE, Quiros J, Lefcort F, Taneyhill LA.Elife. 2022 Jun 17;11:e71455.

Current Grant Support

NIH R01 DK117473

Title: Metabolic control of gut-brain axis in Familial dysautonomia.

Role: F. Lefcort, PI; (MPI Valerie Copie, MPI Seth Walk)

09/01/2018 - 08/31/2023