Ludwig San Diego’s Paul Mischel spoke with Oncology Times about his recent Cancer Cell article, which identified a metabolic vulnerability in the brain cancer glioblastoma (GBM) that can be exploited by an experimental drug.

Roeland Nusse of Ludwig Stanford and Stephen Elledge of Ludwig Harvard on winning the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences. Nusse was noted for his discovery of the first Wnt gene and elucidation of its role in embryonic development, stem cells and the genesis of tumors. Elledge was honored for his influential discoveries on how cells sense DNA damage and then engage their mechanisms of DNA repair—and how these processes relate to the development of cancer.

Researchers led by Ludwig MSK’s Taha Merghoub reported how a targeted drug can reverse the effects of certain immune cells that suppress responses to cancer immunotherapy. ​”We can now potentially identify patients whose tumors possess immune suppressor cells and add a drug to their treatment regimen to specifically disarm them,” Merghoub tells GEN.

​A study co-led by Ludwig San Diego’s Paul Mischel has been featured in AACR’s Research Watch. The study demonstrates that GBM cells import vast amounts of cholesterol to survive and that the mechanisms they use to do so can be specifically and effectively undermined with drug-like molecules currently in clinical development.

Peter Kim of Ludwig Stanford has been tapped to lead the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub project. The goal of Biohub is to prevent, detect and treat infectious disease. Dr. Kim shares more in this interview.

A recent Science study co-led by Ludwig Stanford investigator Hiromitsu Nakauchi found that withholding an amino acid from diet depletes blood stem cells in nice. This article explains how the findings may make it possible to conduct bone marrow transplantations – and permit the treatment of some cancers – without chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

Ludwig MSK’s Jedd Wolchok is joining forces with scientists across disciplines to fight a common foe: pancreatic cancer. This “convergence” team includes physicists, computational biologists and physicians who will pool their skills and knowledge to test a new hypothesis—that treatment with synthetic vitamin D can make treatment-resistant pancreas tumors vulnerable to a patient’s immune system.

Derek Leske—an avid cyclist and immunologist at Ludwig Oxford—shares his career goals, inspirations and hobbies. Leske is co-first author of a recent study that examines the role a protein named SPATA2 plays in an elaborate system of protein tagging that regulates inflammatory signaling.

The New York Times writes about the six researchers who received the prestigious Lasker Awards this year. Among them is Sir Peter Ratcliffe of Ludwig Oxford, who was recognized for his role in elucidating the mechanisms and distinct signaling pathways by which cells gauge and respond to the availability of oxygen.

A blue ribbon panel, co-chaired by Tyler Jacks of Ludwig MIT and including Ludwig scientists George Demetri and Levi Garraway, released a report for the Cancer Moonshot that describes a set of 10 recommendations for accelerating cancer research to achieve the ambitious goal of making a decade’s worth of progress in 5 years.

Ludwig MIT scientist Tyler Jacks discusses recent advancements, market potential and ethnical questions related to CRISPR, a revolutionary gene-editing technology that has changed the cancer research landscape. Jacks and his lab have pioneered the use of CRISPR to construct in vivo models of human cancers.

Ludwig MSK scientist Jedd Wolchok discusses innovative ways that doctors are using the immune system to treat cancer.

A team co-led by Sangeeta Bhatia, researcher at Ludwig MIT, engineered strains of Salmonella bacteria to produce three types of cancer-killing drugs. The Atlantic reported on their findings, which show that, when used in combination with chemotherapy, the engineered bacteria can induce dramatic regressions of aggressive colon tumors.

A new Nature study co-authored by Irv Weissman, director of Ludwig Stanford, found that the “don’t eat me” signal many tumor cells display on their surfaces to evade immune system attack – called CD47 – also appears to play a role in enabling atherosclerosis, the process underlying heart attacks and strokes. Stanford’s Scope blog explains the significance of these findings.

Ludwig scientists speak about a blood-based screening test they’re developing to measure the a patient’s risk of colon cancer recurrence after surgery and determine whether subsequent chemotherapy is advisable. “This study shows that when we find tumor DNA circulating in the blood of cancer patients, recurrence is very likely,” says Nickolas Papadopoulos of Ludwig Johns Hopkins.

Ludwig scientists have shown that fragments of tumor DNA circulating in the blood can be used to better gauge the risk of colorectal cancer recurrence and the necessity of chemotherapy following surgery. Cancer Research UK reports that these findings could one day help doctors to better monitor and tailor treatments for their patients.

Ludwig Johns Hopkins scientist Luis Diaz spoke to Bloomberg about how a cancer patient’s response to immunotherapy is tied to the number of mutations in tumor cells.

Ludwig Stanford Director and stem cell research pioneer Irv Weissman discussed the history of using blood-forming stem cells to treat cancer and the “big leap” he is taking to move this field forward. Weissman and his colleagues have shown that such treatment could be effective for other diseases as well, including type one diabetes and lupus.

During his keynote speech at Stanford Medicine’s diploma ceremony, Ludwig Stanford scientist Peter Kim urged graduates to learn from failure and to remember that at its core, science is about “discovering the truth and following it wherever it leads.”

Ludwig Melbourne scientist Jeanne Tie spoke to GenomeWeb about data she recently presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting. Tie and her colleagues studied the efficacy of using ctDNA as a marker to identify colon cancer patients who are at high risk of recurrence following tumor removal.

Ludwig Johns Hopkins Co-Directors Bert Vogelstein and Ken Kinzler share how they foster a sense of community among their team members. Costumes encouraged!

Ludwig Stanford scientist Crystal Mackall shares her research and weighs in on recent successes in the field, stating that immunotherapy is “the biggest thing to hit cancer in the last decade and likely will dominate the next.”

Ludwig Harvard Co-Director George Demetri offers his perspective on how the field of sarcoma research has offered a blueprint for that of other tumor types.

Ludwig MIT’s Tyler Jacks shares his expertise about cancer genome complexity in a podcast about cancer, “ninja of the disease world.”

Ludwig Johns Hopkins Co-Directors Bert Vogelstein and Ken Kinzler sit down with JCI for their ‘Conversations with Giants in Medicine’ series to discuss their backgrounds, what inspired them to be cancer researchers and their goals as scientists.

Ludwig MIT Director Bob Weinberg recently received the AACR Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research. Weinberg spoke to MedPage Today about his acceptance speech, during which he spoke passionately about why basic cancer research must continue and why collaboration should happen organically.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden delivered an address at the AACR Annual Meeting, calling on researchers to accelerate progress against cancer by working more collaboratively and sharing data more freely. Ludwig Harvard director George Demetri was quoted in this article on the address, which also summarized key findings reported at the meeting.

Ludwig MIT Director Bob Weinberg was honored for his seminal contributions to cancer research and cancer biology with the 13th annual American Association for Cancer Research Award for Lifetime Achievement in Cancer Research at the AACR Annual Meeting in New Orleans.

Researchers led by Ludwig Harvard scientist Stephen Hodi reported at the AACR Annual Meeting that 34 percent of patients with advanced melanoma who were treated the immunotherapy nivolumab alone were still alive five years later.

Ludwig Harvard scientist Stephen Hodi discussed the results of the longest follow-up survival study conducted to date on patients with advanced melanoma who were treated with the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab.

Ludwig scientists Bert Vogelstein and Maximilian Diehn are quoted in an article about the increasing commercial interest in developing liquid biopsies to screen for cancer.

Forty Seven, a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company founded by Ludwig Stanford director Irv Weissman, announced that it has completed the first half of a $75 million financing round and has licensed the rights to multiple immuno-oncology programs from Stanford University.

The MIT Technology Review takes a look at the busy life of Ludwig scientist Sangeeta Bhatia: a bioengineer, entrepreneur and role model for young women in STEM.

In recognition of World Cancer Day, the Oxford Science Blog asks Ludwig’s Colin Goding about his research on melanoma and his thoughts on the future of cancer treatment.

Ludwig Harvard director George Demetri talks to MSNBC’s Chris Matthews about what can be accomplished with Vice President Biden’s “Moonshot” initiative.

Ludwig Harvard director George Demetri was among the top cancer researchers who met with United States Vice President Joe Biden’s staff to discuss ideas for his cancer “moonshot” initiative announced during President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address.

In the war on cancer, 2015 will be remembered for more than just the new drugs that were approved. It was a year marked by many new discoveries about the disease that will continue to drive improvements in how it is prevented and treated.