Daniel K. Ludwig's Philanthropy for Cancer Research

Although not widely known, Mr. Daniel K. Ludwig in fact created two separate, not-for-profit entities. The "Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research" is a Swiss, not-for-profit corporation that conducts its own research. The "Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research" is a Trust of which six named academic Institutes are the beneficiaries. Read more here.

Notch1 Research from Lausanne

Dr. Freddy Radtke from the Lausanne Branch reviews his research on Notch1 - a fascinating lineage specifier, oncogene, and tumor suppressor. Read more here.

Dr. Michael D. Waterfield To Step Down As Director of London UC Branch, Dr. Xin Lu Named as Branch Director-Designate

For the first time in LICR history, there will be a hand-over of a Branch Directorship. Earlier this month, the Board of Directors decided that Dr. Xin Lu, a Member at the London St Mary’s Branch would be offered the position as successor to Dr. Michael D. Waterfield F.R.S. Dr. Waterfield has decided that he will step down as Director later this year to facilitate the transition, and take the opportunity to focus on his group’s research interests. Dr. Waterfield will be the Head of the LICR/UCL Joint Proteomics Laboratory at UCL, and will continue the study of signal transduction through proteomics.


Dr. Waterfield has made several seminal contributions to cancer research including: the discovery that a growth factor (platelet-derived growth factor) could be an oncogene (together with Dr. Carl-Henrik Heldin, Uppsala Branch Director); the discovery that a growth factor receptor (epidermal growth factor receptor) could be an oncogene (with Dr. Joseph Schlessinger, Yale Affiliate Center); and the characterization of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase family, a frequently altered signaling pathway in cancer. Dr. Waterfield is currently the second most highly-cited scientist in the UK. Read more about Dr. Waterfield’s impressive career here.

LICR News

2003 Annual Research Report now available
The Annual Research Report for the 2003 calendar year is now available as a downloadable Acrobat (pdf) file. Go to the 'News' section of the website to read all about the Institute's Research and Clinical Trials Programs, and the LICR Branches and Affiliates.
Congratulations to:
Scientific Committee member Dr. Harald Zur Hausen who has received the 'Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany', one of the highest honors given by that country, for his contributions to cancer research.
The Centre Pluridisciplinaire d'Oncologie (CePO), the LICR Clinical Trials Site in Lausanne, celebrated its 15th Anniversary in May. The Director of CePO is LICR Affiliate Dr. Ferdy LeJeune. Dr. Jean-Charles Cerottini, the Director of the LICR Lausanne Branch, and Dr. Danielle Liénard (Lausanne Affiliate Center) were among the speakers at the symposium celebrating the anniversary.
LICR in the news:
A study from the New York Branch and their colleagues in the Cancer Vaccine Collaborative received national radio exposure, and coverage by Reuter's Health (amongst other things) for their study showing the first integrated immunological response in patients vaccinated with a recombinant protein.
A study from the LICR New York Branch and the LICR Clinical Trials Center at Cornell University (New York), describing the discovery of a new family of cancer vaccine targets, the SSX family, was covered by Reuter’s Health, the Italian press, and ‘Biotechnology News’ (PMID: 15085202).
A joint study between Dr. Richard Kolodner from the LICR San Diego Branch and investigators from the University of California Davis had ‘Bio.com’ News and Features claiming that textbooks on DNA Crossover in meiosis would have to be re-written (PMID: 15066281).
‘Vital-IT’, the federal Swiss bioinformatics initiative being led by LICR’s Dr. Victor Jongeneel (covered in the March 2004 NewsLink), received national coverage, with articles on Vital-IT appearing in several Swiss newspapers, and Dr. Jongeneel being interviewed on national radio.
Two papers from the LICR Melbourne Branch and their collaborators (which included the LICR New York Branch) on the 806 monoclonal antibody were featured in Medical News Today. Both papers were published in J. Biol. Chem.: one paper maps the 806 epitope (PMID: 15075331), while the other utilizes 806 to study the interactions between the CR1 and CR1 regions of EGFR extracellular domain (PMID: 15016810).
A joint microarray study conducted by Dr. Sunil Lakhani (London Affiliate Center) and the London UC Branch was covered by Reuters Health, and several online medical sites (PMID: 15126339). The study identified novel prognostic markers in breast cancer.
A study published by a group comprised of Swiss and German research team, and led by the LICR Lausanne Branch, was covered by Spanish and Swiss newspapers, and by the ‘BioTK’ website. The study found that the lymph node and tumor environments blunt T cell effector functions (PMID: 15087405).

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