We congratulate Ludwig Lausanne’s Ping-Chih Ho on his election in March as Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Ping-Chih was recognized by the AAAS for his continuing and “distinguished contributions to the field of immune metabolism, particularly in elucidating its role in anti-tumor immunity and advancing cancer therapy.” A leader in his field, Ping-Chih explores how metabolic byproducts and effects influence the function of immune cells and mediate a conversation between them and their malignant targets. A recent publication out of his lab, for instance, detailed how an accumulation of malfunctioning mitochondria induces a rewriting of gene expression programs in the immune system’s T cells that pushes them into a state of terminal exhaustion (see page 20). Another recent study led by Ping-Chih identified a specific mode of fat uptake by immune cells within tumors that serves as a metabolic checkpoint against anti-cancer immune responses and evaluated a candidate antibody drug to undermine this effect. It has since received Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of liver cancer and is being evaluated in clinical trials by Pilatus, a biotech startup spun out of Ping-Chih’s laboratory in partnership with the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. Ping-Chih was inducted into the AAAS during a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on May 29.
Back to September 2026 Ludwig Link