Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research

Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research

I am persuaded that eventual mastery of cancer will only come from intense and unremitting scientific exploration over many decades - Daniel K. Ludwig. December 17, 1974.

The Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Ltd (LICR)is a global non profit committed to improving the understanding and control of cancer through integrated laboratory and clinical discovery. Leveraging its worldwide network of investigators and the ability to sponsor and conduct its own clinical trials, the Institute is actively engaged in translating its discoveries into applications for human benefit.

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Dr. Richard D. Kolodner Image

LICR Investigators

Dr. Richard D. Kolodner

In 1993-4, LICR Executive Director for Laboratory Science and Technology, Dr. Richard D. Kolodner, showed that inherited mutations in two DNA mismatch repair genes, MSH2 and MLH1, caused hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC), a common cancer susceptibility syndrome that predisposes to colorectal and many other types of cancer. Extending this work, Dr. Kolodner demonstrated in 1997 that epigenetic silencing of the MLH1 mismatch repair gene was the cause of the sporadic mismatch repair defective cancers accounting for 20% of sporadic colorectal cancers as well as a proportion of many other cancers. In 1999, Dr. Kolodner showed that inherited mutations in yet another mismatch repair gene, MSH6, cause familial colorectal cancer, another type of inherited cancer susceptibility. It is hoped that knowledge of genes and pathways preventing genome instability can be exploited to develop new cancer therapies.