Ludwig Cancer Research, a New York-based philanthropic group, is set to donate $540 million to six institutions to collaborate on a cancer research project.

According to the Baltimore Sun, Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Stanford University and the University of Chicago will share the donation.

Named after Daniel K. Ludwig, the late shipping tycoon, the group will grant each center $90 million. Ludwig died in 1992 and, unbeknownst to many, was one of the richest men of his time. His fortune was first used for cancer research in 1971, around the time of the nation's "war on cancer" was declared.

All six programs received $20 million in 2006 to establish their cancer centers and will use the latest donations to collaborate from their own labs on new research.

"Because of this money, we've reached a milestone in our understanding of cancer," Dr. Kenneth Kinzler, co-director the Hopkins Ludwig Center, told the Sun. "Now the challenge is figuring out how to defeat it."

Joan Brugge, co-director of Harvard Ludwig's Center, told Bloomberg many patients who do receive successful cancer treatments see their tumors relapse. The center's other co-director George Demetri agreed and said the endowment will allow the researchers to be bolder in their work.

"This permanent endowment will allow us to take on high-risk, high-reward research strategies, to take a long view and aim for a bigger impact than normal grant cycles might allow," Demetri told Bloomberg.

Each center will examine something different in relation to cancer treatments.

At MIT, scientists will look at metastasis and Harvard researchers will examine why cancer can combat once-successful treatments. Chicago researchers will examine metastasis and radiation and hormone therapy. At Sloan-Kettering, the funds will support research on the role of the body's immune system. Scientists at Stanford will study stem cells and Johns Hopkins researchers will focus on early detection.

According to the Associated Press, the Ludwig fund has donated a total of $2.5 billion to cancer-related research.