The Ludwig Center at MIT is one of six centers to receive a total of $540 million in new financial support from Ludwig Cancer Research on behalf of its founder, the late American shipping magnate Daniel K. Ludwig. The new gift adds to the endowments established in 2006 to create the Ludwig Centers at each institution, and is one of the largest in MIT's history.
Headed by Koch Institute member and Daniel K. Ludwig Professor for Cancer Research at MIT Robert Weinberg, the Ludwig Center for Molecular Oncology at MIT is focused on understanding and disrupting the metastatic spread of cancer. Ludwig funds currently support six faculty members, all of whom are located at the KI, along with several fellowships for students and postdoctoral researchers.
“We are extremely grateful to receive this gift in support of cancer research,” said Tyler Jacks, a Daniel K. Ludwig Scholar at the Ludwig Center at MIT and director of the Koch Institute, “and we are committed to using these funds to make a meaningful impact on the important problem of metastasis." The Ludwig gift adds considerable strength and long-term sustainability to MIT's interdisciplinary approach to cancer research, and has been profiled in media outlets including MIT News, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today.