Laura Soucek
Laura Soucek | |
|---|---|
| Born | |
| Alma mater | Sapienza University of Rome University of California, San Francisco |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | Vall d'Hebron University Hospital |
Laura Soucek (born 1973) is a Professor at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital Institute of Oncology. She works on the Myc oncoprotein, the deregulation of which occurs during almost all cancers. Soucek has designed a dominant negative variant, omomyc, which allows her to investigate the benefits of inhibiting myc in cancer.
Early life and education
Soucek was born in Velletri on the outskirts of Rome.[1] She studied biology at the Sapienza University of Rome, which she graduated in 1996. After earning her bachelor's degree Soucek moved to the National Research Centre in Rome, where she started a doctorate in genetics and molecular biology. During this time she started researching cancer.[2] Soucek completed her PhD in 2001 and joined the University of California, San Francisco as a postdoctoral fellow. She was appointed as an Assistant Researcher in the laboratory of Gerard Evan in 2006. She returned to Europe in 2011, joinign the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital.[2]
Research and career
Soucek is Head of the Mouse Models of Cancer Therapies Group at the Vall d'Hebron University Hospital. She was promoted to Research Professor in 2014, and was the first woman and non-Spanish national to do so. In 2014 she founded a spin-out company, Peptomyc S.L..[3][4] In 2015 she was made Associate Professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.
Her research considers the Myc oncoprotein.[5] She has shown that inhibition of the Myc oncogene can have a therapeutic index in mouse models of cancer, causing minimal side effects in regular tissues. Soucek created Omomyc, a dominant negative form of Myc that can inhibit the oncogene withou causing adverse impacts.[4][6] As Omomyc is tolerated by the human body and has anti-tumour activity, Souckck has been developing an efficient and safe drug version.[4] She believes that inhibition of Myc can force the immune system to wake up, and kill cancer from the inside and outside.[5] Peptomyc have demonstrated that Omomyc can be used against non-small-cell lung carcinoma.[4]
In 2019 Peptomyc was awarded the European Institute of Innovation and Technology Public Prize, raising over €4 million in venture capital from the EIT health community.[2][7]
Selected publications
Soucek, Laura (2008). "Modelling Myc inhibition as a cancer therapy". Nature. 455: 679–683. doi:10.1038/nature07260.
Soucek, Laura (2007). "Mast cells are required for angiogenesis and macroscopic expansion of Myc-induced pancreatic islet tumors". Nature Medicine. 13: 1211–1218. doi:10.1038/nm1649.
Soucek, Laura (2013). "Inhibition of Myc family proteins eradicates KRas-driven lung cancer in mice". Genes & Development. 27: 504–513. doi:10.1101/gad.205542.112.
References
- ^ "ICREA". www.icrea.cat. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
- ^ a b c "La mujer que quiere (y va a intentar) acabar con el cáncer". Diario Sur (in Spanish). 2018-12-08. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
- ^ peptomyc_2015. "Team". Peptomyc (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2019-11-04.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d "El inhibidor de Myc, Omomyc, entra en la recta final previa al ensayo clínico". Vall d'Hebron Barcelona Hospital Campus (in Spanish). 2019-10-04. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
- ^ a b "Laura Soucek: "Con el fármaco matamos al cáncer desde dentro y desde fuera"". Redacción Médica (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-11-04.
- ^ "Así funciona el Omomyc, el nuevo fármaco contra el cáncer". La Vanguardia. 2019-03-26. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
- ^ "EIT Health projects focused on women". EIT. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
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