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Paul Northcott was the one of the first recipients of the AACR NextGen grant for transformative cancer research, a grant mechanism intended to support creative cancer research that may not be funded through conventional channels. Northcott’s research studies the molecular and genetic level of a type of childhood brain cancer called medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain tumor in children, with five-year survival rates ranging from 30 to 80 percent. Through Paul Northcott research, Paul Northcott discovered molecular subgroups of medulloblastoma with distinct patient features, outcomes and mutational patterns. These findings changed the way the disease is studied, diagnosed and the way patients are treated, Paul Northcott said. There are no clinical compounds or FDA-approved drugs so I think the biggest challenge over the next several years is to take that information that we've gleaned from the genomics era and actually translate that into better treatment options for patients.