In 2021, Princeton University became the home of a new branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. The Ludwig Princeton Branch focuses on cancer metabolism and its promise for new and better ways to prevent and treat cancer through diet and drugs.  

As part of Ludwig’s international community of distinguished scientists, the Branch ushers in a new stage in partnership and collaboration for Princeton cancer research and offers opportunities to Princeton faculty and students.

Overview

The Branch is the first Ludwig location to focus on cancer metabolism, an area that Ludwig believes “holds considerable promise.” When announcing the new Branch, University Provost Deborah A. Prentice said, “This new partnership goes to the heart of what Princeton is all about. It draws on Princeton’s breadth of excellence in fundamental science to drive real-world breakthroughs at the cutting edge of cancer care.”

Collaborations Support Research and Clinical Translation 

The Ludwig Princeton Branch is focused on developing collaborations to catalyze new research on cancer metabolism, while also helping to accelerate the application of transformative basic science advances made at Princeton. Together, the Branch and its partners carry out cutting-edge basic and translational science and achieve technological breakthroughs and scientific understanding.

The Ludwig Princeton Branch taps into the deep scientific expertise at Princeton

Research collaborations span many of the University’s academic departments, drawing upon, as Prentice noted, Princeton’s “renowned strength in disciplines of critical importance to the study of cancer metabolism, including basic cancer research, metabolomics, genomics, biology, and the computational and physical sciences.” Branch research engages faculty, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and undergraduates. The Branch is also establishing new programs to tap into the extraordinarily talented Princeton student body, including new research opportunities for undergraduates.

The clinical translation of Branch discoveries is conducted in partnership with RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the state’s only U.S. National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.  In addition, partnerships expand to the University of Pennsylvania Medical School, as well as to more distant clinical collaborators, to address key questions. These collaborations bring the scientific reach and clinical expertise required to fulfill the Branch’s mission. 

Branch Leadership

Joshua Rabinowitz, a professor of chemistry and the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton who specializes in cancer and metabolism, serves as director of the branch. Eileen White, a distinguished professor of molecular biology and biochemistry at Rutgers University, is the associate director of the branch and a longtime collaborator with Princeton cancer scientists. Yibin Kang, Princeton’s Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis Professor of Molecular Biology, is a principal investigator and founding member of the new branch.

The Branch is adding faculty and researchers and also periodically offering research funding opportunities.

 

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