Weill Cancer Hub East Established with $50 Million Gift from the Weill Family
Four top research institutions have united under the Weill Cancer Hub East, a collaborative partnership that aims to transform cancer treatment. The initiative connects experts from Princeton University, the Rockefeller University, Weill Cornell Medicine, and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research to enhance immunotherapeutic strategies.
The Weill Cancer Hub East was established with a $50 million gift from the Weill Family Foundation, directed by Joan and Sanford I. Weill, and matched with philanthropy from each partner institution that together will total more than $125 million. The initiative seeks to break down institutional barriers and unite top experts in cancer biology, cancer clinical trials, immunology, nutrition, and metabolism to drive cross-field collaboration that pushes the boundaries of scientific discovery.
Over the next decade, the Weill Cancer Hub East will marshal multidisciplinary teams to explore the complex relationship between solid tumors and the environment in which they form and grow, according to a Weill Cornell Medicine spokesperson, adding that their investigations will leverage the complementary strengths of each research institution to illuminate how the food we eat and the beneficial microbes that help metabolize that food influence the effectiveness of cancer treatments such as immunotherapy.
Emerging therapeutics
The hub will evaluate how emerging therapeutics, including a class of diabetes and anti-obesity drugs (GLP-1 agonists), might impact cancer progression and treatment.
“The Weill Cancer Hub East will offer doctors and scientists a tremendous opportunity to revolutionize the treatment of cancer, a disease that complicates so many lives,” said Sandy Weill, founder of the Weill Family Foundation and chair emeritus of the Weill Cornell Medicine Board of Fellows.
“With the best minds in the field armed with the most advanced research techniques, the Weill Cancer Hub East will seek to elevate immunotherapy and improve patient care for people battling cancer.”
Using advances in metabolomics, immunology, computational analysis, and artificial intelligence, the Weill Cancer Hub East will explore how metabolism affects the immune system’s ability to recognize and control cancer.
“The hub will enable extraordinary biomedical scientists, leading clinicians, and the New York medical community to join forces in new ways and leverage our academic research with amazing translational and clinical expertise,” said Christopher L. Eisgruber, JD, president of Princeton University.
Seed funding will be available for funding basic, clinical, and translational scientists from Princeton University, the Rockefeller University, and Weill Cornell Medicine to allow them to pursue collaborative projects that focus on reprogramming the tumor microenvironment and augmenting cell function by modulating patients’ metabolisms and microbiomes.
In addition, the hub will make a portfolio of clinical trials available, including those that explore whether GLP-1 agonists, which are designed to modify a person’s metabolism, have downstream beneficial effects on a cancer patient’s immune response and outcome.
Findings gleaned from these investigations may have applications in cardiovascular, metabolic, and autoimmune conditions.
“Immune modulation and engineered immune effector cell therapies have transformed the treatment of a number of cancers, begging the question of how these and related therapies can be extended to many others,” said Richard Lifton, MD, PhD, president of the Rockefeller University. “The funding for this collaboration allows for a deep, mechanistic investigation into how one’s diet, metabolism, and microbiome can affect cancer immunotherapy. Promoting the integration of basic science and clinical investigation will promote discoveries that will improve patient outcomes.”
A scientific steering committee, comprising one scientific leader from each academic institution, will oversee the hub’s scientific activities. The committee members are:
- Joshua Rabinowitz, MD, PhD, professor in the department of chemistry and Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton University, and director of the Princeton Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
- Sohail Tavazoie, MD, PhD, the Leon Hess Professor, head of the Meyer Laboratory of Systems Cancer Biology, and director of the Black Center for Metastasis Research at the Rockefeller University
- Jedd Wolchok, MD, PhD, the Meyer Director of the Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center, co-director of the Ludwig Collaborative Laboratory, and co-director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine