December 2006
Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research
In 1971, Mr. Daniel K. Ludwig established the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, with substantially all of his international holdings. Mr. Ludwig bequeathed his domestic U.S. holdings to a second, completely separate endowment, the ‘Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research ("the Fund"), solely for the support of cancer research at six named institutions in the USA. This year, the Trustees of the Fund distributed to the six $120 million cash plus stock in a New York real estate holding company valued at $196 million to create a "Ludwig Center" at each (see side-bar).
While the monetary distributions from the Ludwig Fund do not directly benefit the Ludwig Institute, the relationships being built with these Centers, which are headed by some of the leading figures in US cancer research (see side-bar), will present new opportunities for collaboration with Ludwig Institute investigators. Collaborations between the Centers and the Ludwig Institute - under the banner of ‘Ludwig Cancer’ - were a key part of the negotiations and agreements between the Trustees and the beneficiary institutions’ representatives.
Read the story of ‘Ludwig Cancer’ here.
“It’s difficult to calculate exactly the extent of D.K. Ludwig’s gifts to cancer research. If you sum the Fund’s distributions establishing the Centers and supporting endowed chairs with the Institute’s current endowment and expenditure, Mr. Ludwig’s generosity and foresight will amount to northwards of $1.7 billion for cancer research in just the twenty year period following his death. It’s a truly remarkable legacy, and one that continues to build.”
–Mr. Edward A. McDermott, Jr., LICR President and Trustee of the Virginia & D.K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research
The Atlantic Philanthropies Awards Multi-Million Dollar Grant to LICR Programs
A group of LICR investigators led by Dr. Lloyd Old (Director, New York Branch) has been awarded a grant of USD18 million over three years for collaborative clinical discovery projects in the Antibody Targeting, Cancer Vaccine and Signaling Programs. The grant is from the international foundation, The Atlantic Philanthropies, which has an ultimate goal of making lasting changes for human benefit. Read more about this grant here.
LICR Melbourne Branch to Host National Proteomics Analysis Facility
Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council has awarded AUD 2 million to enable the establishment of the Australian Proteomics Computer Facility (APCF), a large-scale computational solution for mass spectrometry-based proteomic analyses for researchers in Australia. This Australia-wide initiative - which has tremendous industry and academic collaborations - will be hosted and led by the LICR Melbourne Branch. Read more on the large-scale mass spectrometry data analysis effort here.
São Paulo Branch — New Director and Now New Host Institution
The Branch is entering an exciting next phase with a new Director, Dr. Luisa Villa (appointed in July), and now a new host institution, the Hospital Alamao Oswaldo Cruz (also) in the city of São Paulo. Read more about the São Paulo Branch here.
London University College Branch To Become Oxford Branch in 2007
In 2007, the ‘London University College Branch’ will leave its current site at University College London (UCL) and relocate to a new host institution, the internationally acclaimed Oxford University. Read more about this branch relocation here.
LICR’s 2006 Nobel Prize Connections
The Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine is awarded by the Nobel Assembly, which is composed of 50 Professors at the Karolinska Institutet, the LICR Stockholm Branch’s host institution. The Acting Director of the Stockholm Branch, Dr. Thomas Perlmann, is a member of the Assembly, as is LICR Affiliate, Dr. Christer Betsholtz. This year, former Branch Director, Dr. Ralf Pettersson, was an associate member of the Nobel Committee, the working body of the Assembly, which selects the candidates for the award. In the past, Dr. Pettersson has been a full member of the Assembly and the Committee and has also presented the Nobel Prize twice.
LICR News
LICR News
Staff Appointments & Promotions:
To Senior Investigator: Dr. Fook T. Lee (Melbourne Branch)
To Senior Investigator: Dr. Francesca Walker (Melbourne Branch)
To Assistant Investigator: Glenn Cartwright (Melbourne Center)
To Associate Investigator: Dr. Bruno Catimel (Melbourne Branch)
Blood:
From the laboratory of Dr. Matthias Ernst (Melbourne Branch)
Jenkins BJ, Roberts AW, Greenhill CJ, Najdovska M, Lundgren-May T, Robb L, Grail D, Ernst M. Pathological consequences of STAT3 hyper-activation by IL-6 and IL-11 during hematopoiesis and lymphopoiesis. Blood. 2006 Nov 2; [Epub ahead of print]
From the laboratory of Dr. Pierre van der Bruggen (Brussels Branch)
Carrasco J, Godelaine D, Van Pel A, Boon T, van der Bruggen P. CD45RA on human CD8 T cells is sensitive to the time elapsed since the last antigenic stimulation. Blood. 2006 Nov 1;108(9):2897-905. Epub 2006 Jul 20. PMID: 16857986
Breast Cancer Research:
As part of the LICR Breast Cancer Initiative, from the laboratories of Drs. Michael O’Hare (University College London Branch), Victor Jongeneel (Office of Information Technology), Parmjit Jat (Affiliate, London) and Andrew J.G. Simpson (New York Office).
Anita Grigoriadis, Alan Mackay, Jorge S Reis-Filho, Dawn Steele, Christian Iseli, Brian J Stevenson, C Victor Jongeneel, Haukur Valgeirsson, Kerry Fenwick, Marjan Iravani, Maria Leao, Andrew JG Simpson, Robert L Strausberg, Parmjit S Jat, Alan Ashworth, A Munro Neville and Michael J O'Hare. Establishment of the epithelial-specific transcriptome of normal and malignant human breast cells based on MPSS and array expression data. Breast Cancer Research 2006, 8:R56. PMID: 17014703
Cell (twice in two weeks!):
From the laboratory of Dr. Arshad Desai (San Diego Branch)
Cheeseman IM, Chappie JS, Wilson-Kubalek EM, Desai A. The conserved KMN network constitutes the core microtubule-binding site of the kinetochore. Cell. 2006 Dec 1;127(5):983-97. PMID: 17129783
Sandall S, Severin F, McLeod IX, Yates JR 3rd, Oegema K, Hyman A, Desai A. A Bir1-Sli15 Complex Connects Centromeres to Microtubules and Is Required to Sense Kinetochore Tension. Cell. 2006 Dec 15;127(6):1179-1191. PMID: 17174893
Journal of General Virology:
From the laboratories of Drs. Paul Farrell (Affiliate, London UK) and Bart Vanhaesebroeck (UCL Branch)
Spender LC, Lucchesi W, Bodelon G, Bilancio A, Karstegl CE, Asano T, Dittrich-Breiholz O, Kracht M, Vanhaesebroeck B, Farrell PJ. Cell target genes of Epstein-Barr virus transcription factor EBNA-2: induction of the p55alpha regulatory subunit of PI3-kinase and its role in survival of EREB2.5 cells. J Gen Virol. 2006 Oct;87(Pt 10):2859-67. PMID: 16963743
Journal of Cell Biology (back-to-back):
From the laboratories of Drs. Huilin Zhou and Richard Kolodner (San Diego Branch)
Smolka MB, Chen SH, Maddox PS, Enserink JM, Albuquerque CP, Wei XX, Desai A, Kolodner RD, Zhou H. An FHA domain-mediated protein interaction network of Rad53 reveals its role in polarized cell growth. J Cell Biol. 2006 Dec 4;175(5):743-53. Epub 2006 Nov 27. PMID: 17130285
Enserink JM, Smolka MB, Zhou H, Kolodner RD. Checkpoint proteins control morphogenetic events during DNA replication stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. J Cell Biol. 2006 Dec 4;175(5):729-41. Epub 2006 Nov 27. PMID: 17130284 [PubMed - in process]
Nature:
From the laboratory of Dr. Ira Mellman (Affiliate, New Haven (CT) USA)
Shin JS, Ebersold M, Pypaert M, Delamarre L, Hartley A, Mellman I. Surface expression of MHC class II in dendritic cells is controlled by regulated ubiquitination. Nature 2006 Nov 2;444(7115):115-8. Epub 2006 Oct 8. PMID: 17051151
Grants
To Drs. Joan Heath and Ed Nice (Melbourne Branch)
2007 - 2009 NHMRC Project Grant (AUD493,500) “Development of drug loaded antibody targeted nanoparticles to kill colorectal cancer cells.” Principal Investigators: JK Heath, F.Caruso, EC Nice
To Cancer Vaccine, Antibody Targeting and Signaling Programs (see accompanying NewsLink article)
2007 - 2009 The Atlantic Philanthropies (USD18,000,000) “The Atlantic Philanthropies/Ludwig Institute Clinical Discovery Program” Principal Investigator: LJ Old.
LICR in the News
The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research was mentioned in newspapers and on radio around the USA, as well as in the journal, Science, as part of the media coverage of the Ludwig Cancer announcement. Mr. Edward A. McDermott, Jr. and Drs. Lloyd Old, Andy Simpson, George Demetri and Sarah White were all quoted in the print media.
The paper by Grigoriadis et al. (LICR Human Breast Cancer Initiative) was selected by the journal, Breast Cancer Research, as a highlight paper for the journal’s promotional campaign to authors. The paper has been accessed over 2000 times this quarter.
Dr. Robert Moritz was featured in coverage of the Australian Proteomics Computational Facility at the Melbourne Branch in Australia’s national newspaper, The Australian.
Ludwig Cancer
Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
Andrew J.G. Simpson, Ph.D. as Executive-Director for Programs & Operations will be the Ludwig Institute’s coordinator of collaborations with the Ludwig Centers.
Ludwig Center at Dana-Farber/HMS
George D. Demetri, M.D. led one of the first pivotal clinical trials to demonstrate that therapies targeting a specific mutant protein can extend cancer patient survival. The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School team is now designing and implementing scientific studies that expand knowledge gained in early drug development trials.
Ludwig Center at Johns Hopkins
Kenneth Kinzler, Ph.D. and Bert Vogelstein, M.D. are consistently ranked in the top-most cited cancer researchers in the world, and have just published the most comprehensive study identifying gene mutations in breast and colon cancers. The Johns Hopkins University Kimmel Cancer Center team will continue to focus on the genetic underpinnings of cancer and how to use these discoveries to improve cancer patient care.
Ludwig Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering
James P. Allison, Ph.D. is a renowned leader in the field of immunology, and particularly in the development of novel therapeutic concepts that harness the immune system to fight cancer. The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center team is evaluating several innovative cancer immunological approaches, now in clinical trials, to identify promising new ways to diagnose and treat people with cancer.
Ludwig Center at MIT
Robert A. Weinberg, Ph.D. is an internationally recognized authority on the genetic basis of human cancer, his group having isolated the first human cancer-causing gene and the first known tumor suppressor gene. The MIT team will focus particularly on the understanding of metastasis, the spread of cancer.
Ludwig Center at Stanford University
Irving Weissman, M.D. and his colleagues were the first to identify and isolate normal adult (or tissue-specific) stem cells, and have since identified the malignant counterparts of these cells in leukemia and solid tumors such as breast cancer. The Stanford University team is working to isolate cancer stem cells in all human cancers and develop new therapies that target these cells to eliminate the disease at its source.
Ludwig Center at The University of Chicago
Geoffrey L.Greene, Ph.D., a leader in the study of steroid hormones and their specific receptors, and Ralph R. Weichselbaum, M.D., a pioneer in radiation targeted gene therapy, have formed a team to find novel ways to direct radiolabeled hormones to their receptors to detect the spread of cancer and deliver precision radiotherapy or other treatments to metastases in specific organs.