Ludwig Princeton’s Associate Director Eileen White and Ludwig Harvard investigator Alan D’Andrea were elected to the National Academy of Sciences in April in recognition of their distinguished and continuing contributions to cancer research. Eileen has made many notable discoveries that have advanced our understanding of programmed cell death, autophagy and metabolism in cancer. Her early work revealed roles of the p53 tumor suppressor in activating programmed cell death and suppressing cancer, and of the counteracting Bcl-2-related proteins in promoting cancer. More recently, her research has established that tumor cells activate autophagy—in which cells cannibalize their own proteins and organelles—to tolerate metabolic stress. Alan is known for his landmark elucidation of how DNA damage and repair defects drive Fanconi anemia, and his studies of the various protein complexes involved in the cell cycle, chromatin remodeling, DNA repair and the maintenance of genome stability.
This article appeared in the August 2021 issue of Ludwig Link. Click here to download a PDF (2MB).