The Stanford University School of Medicine has received a $20 million gift to establish a new world-class research enterprise to study cancer stem cells, which are believed to be at the heart of most cancers.

The New York-based Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Fund announced that the money was part of a $120 million commitment — one of the largest gifts ever by a private foundation for cancer research — for Stanford, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the University of Chicago.

At Stanford, the funding will be used to launch the Ludwig Center for Cancer Stem Cell Research and Medicine, and build upon the distinguished discoveries that Stanford researchers have made in this field. The goal of the center is to identify and better understand the role of these elusive cells in common cancers and then use this knowledge to develop more effective treatments. Most of the initial grant will be used to create a permanent endowment for the Ludwig Center.

“These funds will enable us not only to advance our initiatives on human cancer stem cells, but also to strengthen other unique aspects of Stanford’s cancer activities — from genomics to clinical care,” said Irving Weissman, MD, who in 2005 assumed a professorship at Stanford endowed by the fund — the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor for Clinical Investigation in Cancer Research. (Another Ludwig chair was endowed in 1998 and is held by Lucy Shapiro, PhD.)

For a complete story, see the January 2007 issue of BAON.

Posted on January 8, 2007 02:05 PM