Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology at MIT

The Ludwig Center at MIT is an exciting undertaking that will allow MIT's cancer research community to pool their energies and imaginations to attack the problem of metastasis -- the spreading of cells from a primary tumor to distant sites in the body. A diagnosis of metastatic spread has been, for many, a death sentence, because these distant growths have been so difficult to understand and treat.  However, over the past five years, cancer research conducted at the molecular and cellular level has uncovered many of the mechanisms that enable cancer cells to leave the primary tumor site and seed colonies elsewhere. As a consequence, metastasis research is moving ahead quickly and the formation of this Center comes at a perfect time.  The experimental tools that the Ludwig Center biologists possess are ideally suited to move our understanding forward rapidly, leading to new ways of diagnosing and treating this deadly form of cancer.

The commitment of Virginia and Daniel Ludwig and their estate to advance our knowledge of cancer has been both extraordinarily generous and truly visionary.  The Ludwig Fund's decision to support research in metastasis—the most deadly and possibly least understood phase of cancer—presents a great challenge to the MIT faculty.  Professor Robert Weinberg, with his history of groundbreaking research in this area, is a superlative choice to lead the Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology.  Our faculty and students are grateful and honored to be included in this esteemed group of global institutions on the front lines of cancer research and treatment, and we look forward to working with our peers at the other Ludwig Centers.

--MIT President Susan Hockfield

Director:
Robert Weinberg, Ph.D.
Daniel K. Ludwig and American Cancer Society Professor for Cancer Research
Member, Whitehead Institute
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

More Information:
Ludwig Cancer

In The News:
The Boston Globe: The birth of a tumor
December 4, 2006

MIT's new Ludwig Center to tackle metastasis
November 14, 2006

The Boston Globe: $120m gift for cancer research
November 14, 2006

Ludwig Fund Gives $120 Million for Cancer Research
November 14, 2006