The Ludwig Institute is so special that its founders gave it not just one, but two birthdays.
We kid thee not. Although Daniel Keith Ludwig had established the Cancer Research Institute Ltd. in 1971, the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research we know and love today actually came into being three years later. That was when Ludwig transferred an immense pile of his commercial assets to the Institute and, on December 17, 1974, tweaked its articles of incorporation to ensure the proceeds from those businesses would forever be applied exclusively to its charitable cause. Only then, and only upon the vociferous insistence of his advisors, did Ludwig lend his name to the cancer research organization he had created.
This means the Ludwig Institute as we know it today turns 50 this year. (You might recall, through the haze of the pandemic years, that we celebrated our first 50th anniversary through 2021.) This explains both the cover of this Ludwig Link and the brief biography of Ludwig we’re running in lieu of our usual Q&A (page 9). We find Ludwig the man fascinating and are betting you will too.
Those more interested in the here and now, meanwhile, will find plenty to entertain them in our research news section. Our briefs cover discoveries from Ludwig Branches and Centers on everything from an exploitable metabolic dependency shared by tumor cells and infiltrating T cells to a targetable checkpoint the former impose on the latter to the mechanisms by which radiotherapy promotes cancer metastasis.
We also share news of awards and honors received by Ludwig researchers and tidings of big changes at the helm of the Ludwig Institute.
Read on to find out more. And happy reading!
Sincerely,
Unmesh Kher
Editorial Director