Director, Cardiovascular Genetics Research Program
Boston Children’s Hospital Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Harvard Medical School
Dr. Roberts’s early work focused on gene discovery for one of
the Rasopathies, Noonan syndrome (NS), a multiple congenital anomaly disorder
that is the second most common genetic cause of congenital heart disease in
children after Trisomy 21. Over the last 14 years, there has been a rapid
evolution in our understanding of the molecular genetic causes of Noonan
syndrome, with nine genes now identified, explaining approximately 80% of
cases. These discoveries have enabled the widespread use of next-generation
sequencing testing by clinicians for earlier and more exact diagnosis. For more
than 10 years Dr. Roberts has followed a cohort of over 200 individuals with NS
for the purpose of genotype-phenotype analysis. She has also investigated the
influence of these gene mutations on learning, memory and long-term outcomes.
This work has informed anticipatory management guidelines published for
clinicians caring for children and adults with this diagnosis.
Dr. Roberts is Director of the Cardiovascular Genetics Research Program. and is an Attending Physician in Genetics and Cardiology and sees patients at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Director, Cardiovascular Genetics Research Program
Boston Children’s Hospital Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Harvard Medical School
Dr. Roberts’s early work focused on gene discovery for one of
the Rasopathies, Noonan syndrome (NS), a multiple congenital anomaly disorder
that is the second most common genetic cause of congenital heart disease in
children after Trisomy 21. Over the last 14 years, there has been a rapid
evolution in our understanding of the molecular genetic causes of Noonan
syndrome, with nine genes now identified, explaining approximately 80% of
cases. These discoveries have enabled the widespread use of next-generation
sequencing testing by clinicians for earlier and more exact diagnosis. For more
than 10 years Dr. Roberts has followed a cohort of over 200 individuals with NS
for the purpose of genotype-phenotype analysis. She has also investigated the
influence of these gene mutations on learning, memory and long-term outcomes.
This work has informed anticipatory management guidelines published for
clinicians caring for children and adults with this diagnosis.
Dr. Roberts is Director of the Cardiovascular Genetics Research Program. and is an Attending Physician in Genetics and Cardiology and sees patients at Boston Children’s Hospital.
Journal article
Neurodevelopmental disorders encompass a large group of conditions, many of which can be explained by genetic variants. KIRREL3 has previously been associated with neurodevelopmental disorders and is expressed in the developing human basal ganglia and amygdala. Through GeneMatcher, which allows clinicians, families, and researchers to share information about novel gene variants, and the Simons Foundation Powering Autism Research (SPARK) project, we identified 26 individuals with different rare...
Journal article
CONCLUSIONS: Clinically important bleeding and TE events were common in pediatric cardiac patients on antiplatelets, with organ dysfunction, age, and physiology emerging as key associations. Pharmacogenomic variants were frequent; a candidate P2RY1 signal warrants validation. Pediatric antiplatelet management and relationships with outcomes are complex, supporting the need for prospective studies integrating pharmacogenomic variant analyses with standardized pharmacodynamic testing.