The name ARIAD originates from the Greek myth of Ariadne, a daughter of Minos II, king of Crete. According to the myth, Ariadne fell in love with Theseus and gave him a spool of thread that enabled him to trace his path safely in and out of the labyrinth in which the Minotaur lived.
After slaying the Minotaur, Theseus used the spool of thread to successfully return home. From ARIAD’s perspective, the labyrinth symbolizes the complex system of molecular pathways within the cell, and the spool of thread represents the signaling pathways that are leading our scientists to the discovery of breakthrough cancer therapies.