Tumors are an ecosystem of cancer cells cooperating with noncancerous cells, including those of the immune system, vasculature and connective tissue—all of which play important roles in the growth and dissemination of malignancies. Cancer researchers, including many across the Ludwig community, have been probing these dependencies to find vulnerabilities to target for cancer therapy and biomarkers to guide diagnosis, prognosis and treatment. The Ludwig Tumor Atlas is one such effort. Based at the Ludwig Center at Harvard, the project includes researchers at nine Ludwig-affiliated laboratories in the U.S. and Switzerland. Its member labs are applying high-dimensional imaging methods developed by Ludwig Harvard researchers in combination with single-cell genomics and molecular profiling technologies to determine precisely how tumor and immune cells interact, and how those interactions determine responsiveness to the latest generation of immunotherapies. Projects underway at Ludwig Harvard, Lausanne, MIT and Chicago are exploring the microenvironmental factors that drive drug resistance and examining the immune landscape and its influence on immunotherapies for melanoma and pancreatic, ovarian and prostate cancers. You can learn more about the project and opportunities to join the collaborative effort on the recently launched Ludwig Tumor Atlas website.
This article appeared in the February 2022 issue of Ludwig Link. Click here to download a PDF (1 MB).