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Department
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Neurology
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Hospital Title
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Neurologist-in-Chief
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Academic Title
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Bronson Crothers Professor of Neurology
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Phone
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617-355-6386
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Fax
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617-730-0286
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Email
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Scott Pomeroy
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Location
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300 Longwood Avenue
Fegan 11/Enders-2
Boston MA 02115
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Medulloblastomas are the most common malignant brain tumors of childhood, with 40-50% overall mortality. Despite their significance, their pathogenesis is largely unknown, their cell of origin debated, and their outcome is difficult to predict. The Pomeroy lab is addressing these issues, with particular focus on determining how genes that regulate cerebellar development become disrupted to promote medulloblastoma growth. Molecular profiles created by DNA microarrays that generate a "global" genomic view indicate that medulloblastomas arise from cerebellar neuronal progenitors, resolving a decades-long dispute on their origin. Medulloblastoma subtypes have been discovered that reflect mechanisms of tumorigenesis. One subtype, accounting for about 25% of tumors, arises through dysregulation of the hedgehog pathway, whereas another has disrupted Wnt signaling.
Supervised learning classification algorithms were used to 'learn' the gene expression distinction between those patients who are alive following treatment compared to those who succumbed to their disease. Outcome prediction models based on these gene expression profiles are by far the most accurate predictors of medulloblastoma outcome currently available. These models have been incorporated into therapeutic protocols conducted by the national cancer cooperative, the Children's Oncology Group.
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Scott Pomeroy received his MD degree from University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He completed an internship at Children's Hospital Boston, a residency at Barnes Hospital, and fellowship at St. Louis Children's Hospital. He was recruited to the Children's Hospital Boston faculty in 1990 and was named Neurologist-in-Chief in 2005 after an exhaustive national search.
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- Pomeroy SL, et al. Prediction of central nervous system embryonal tumour outcome based on gene expression. Nature 2002; 415:436-442.
- Kim JYH, Nelson AL, Algon SA, Graves O, Sturla LM, Goumnerova LC, Rowitch DH, Segal RA, Pomeroy SL. Medulloblastoma tumorigenesis diverges from cerebellar granule cell differentiation in patched heterozygous mice. Dev. Biol. 2003; 263:50-66.
- Subramanian A, Tamayo P, Mootha VK, Mukherjee S, Ebert BL, Gillette MA, Pomeroy SL, Golub TR, Lander ES, Mesirov JP. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis: A knowledge-based approach for interpreting genome-wide expression profiles. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2005; 102: 15545-15550.
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