Stanford Receives $20M Grant for Cancer Stem Cell Research
The Stanford University School of Medicine on Tuesday announced that it has been awarded $20 million to establish a research institute to study cancer stem cells, the Oakland Tribune reports.
The gift was received from the Virginia and Daniel K. Ludwig Fund in New York as part of a $120 million donation to six medical institutions nationwide for cancer research. Stanford is the only institution that will use the endowment for stem cell research (Vesely, Oakland Tribune, 11/15).
Stanford officials said that the university will use the majority of the donation to establish a permanent endowment for its new Ludwig Center for Cancer Stem Cell Research and Medicine. The center will include more than 30 faculty members and 10 departments.
The goal of the center is to develop therapies that target and destroy cancer stem cells (San Francisco Business Times, 11/14).
Cancer stem cells cause the disease to spread because they produce new cancer cells. Scientists believe that a cancer patient will relapse if treatment does not remove all cancer stem cells (Krieger, San Jose Mercury News, 11/15).
Fund officials said that the donation is one of the largest ever from a foundation for cancer research.
The donation includes interest in two New York office buildings that is estimated to generate an additional $2 million per year to each institution.
The other recipients of the donation are:
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston;
- Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore;
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.;
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York; and
- University of Chicago (Hall, San Francisco Chronicle, 11/15).