Laura Soucek

Soucek was born in Velletri on the outskirts of Rome.[1] She studied biology at the Sapienza University of Rome and graduated in 1996.[2] 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.[3] During this time she started researching novel treatments for cancer.[4] 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, joining VHIO (Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology).[4]

Soucek is Head of the Mouse Models of Cancer Therapies Group at VHIO and was the first woman and non-Spanish national to be appointed as Principal Investigator. She was promoted to Research Professor at ICREA in 2014. In 2014 she founded a spin-out company, Peptomyc S.L..[5][6] In 2015 she was made Associate Professor at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.[7] Her research considers the Myc oncoprotein, a protein that cancer cells appear to depend on but had previously been considered too difficult to target.[2][8] She has demonstrated that inhibition of Myc 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 without causing adverse impacts.[6][9] As Omomyc is tolerated by mice and has anti-tumour activity, Soucek has been developing an efficient and safe drug version.[6] She believes that inhibition of Myc can force the immune system to wake up, and kill cancer from the inside and outside.[8] Peptomyc have demonstrated that Omomyc can be used against non-small-cell lung carcinoma.[6]

In 2019 Peptomyc was awarded the European Institute of Innovation and Technology Public Prize.[10][11] She has successfully raised over €4 million in venture capital from the EIT health community.[4][12] She featured in a FC Barcelona commercial to advertise the 2019/2020 season kit. The advert paid homage to people who have contributed to the community of Barcelona.[13]