David Pellman
Scientist
Ludwig Center at Harvard
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
United States of America
Biography
I am the Maragaret M. Dyson Professor of Pediatric Oncology at Harvard Medical School, where I am also a Professor of cell biology. My laboratory uses a combination of genetics, biochemistry and live-cell imaging to study cell division and the maintenance of genome stability. Our projects are aimed at defining the molecular mechanisms underlying polarized morphogenesis and understanding how changes in chromosome number (ploidy) affect genome stability. Our work on cytoskeletal dynamics is focused on the mechanism of chromosome segregation in normal cells and cancer cells. We are particularly interested in how the microtubule and actin cytoskeletons interact, and have recently uncovered a mechanism by which actin organization and the adhesive microenvironment of cells influence chromosome segregation. We are also interested in how aneuploidy (abnormal chomosome number) and polyploidy (increased sets of chromosomes) impact on tumor biology. I received my MD from the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine and a Ph.D. under the supervision of Hidesaburo Hanafusa, at Rockefeller University. I completed my fellowship in hematology and oncology at the Children's Hospital, in Boston and did postdoctoral research at The Whitehead Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the laboratory of Gerald Fink. I have received many awards and honors, including the MERIT Award of the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences. I am a member of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Research Interest
Pediatric Oncology, cancer genetics, tumor biology
Publications
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Yoshida S, Kono K, Lowery DM, Bartolini S, Yaffe MB, Ohya Y & Pellman D.Polo-Like Kinase Cdc5 Controls the Local Activation of Rho1 to Promote Cytokinesis. Science. 2006 July 7:313 (5783) 108-111.
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Ganem NJ, Godinho SA, Pellman D. A Mechanism Linking Extra Centrosomes to Chromosomal Instability. Nature. 2009 July 9;460:278-82.
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Carter SL, Cibulskis K, Helman E, McKenna A, Shen H, Zack T, Laird PW, Onofrio RC, Winckler W, Weir BA, Beroukhim R, Pellman D, Levine DA, Lander ES, Meyerson M, Getz G. Absolute quantification of somatic DNA alterations in human cancer. Nat Biotechnol 2012; 30: 413-21. PMID: 22544022
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Su X, Arellano-Santoyo H, Portran D, Gaillard J, Vantard M, Thery M, Pellman D. Microtubule sliding activity of a kinesin-8 promotes spindle assembly and spindle length control. Nat Cell Biol 2013; 15: 948-57. PMID: 23851487
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Ganem N, Cornils H, Chiu S, O’Rourke K, Arnaud J, Yimlamai D, Thery M, Carmargo FD, Pellman D. Cytokinesis Failure Triggers Hippo Tumor Suppressor Pathway Activation. Cell 2014; 158: 833-48. PMID:25126788
