Eventos
O mércores 7 de outubro de 2026, a Dra. Laura Soucek (Profesora Investigadora ICREA, Directora do Programa de Investigación en Terapias Experimentais do VHIO (Vall d’Hebrón Instituto de Oncología), Cofundadora e CSO de Peptomyc S.L) ofrecerá o seminario "A long (and bumpy!) journey to develop a clinically viable MYC inhibitor for cancer patients" dentro do ciclo CINBIO Seminar Programme.
Será ás 11:00 horas na Sala de Seminarios de Torre CACTI.
ABSTRACT:
MYC is one of the most frequently deregulated oncogenes in human cancer and has long been considered one of the most compelling yet elusive therapeutic targets. For decades, its structural and functional properties led to the widespread belief that direct MYC inhibition was not feasible. In this lecture, I will describe the scientific journey that challenged this paradigm through the development of Omomyc, the most extensively characterized direct MYC inhibitor to date. Preclinical studies demonstrated that systemic MYC inhibition can achieve potent antitumor activity across multiple cancer types while maintaining a favorable therapeutic window. These discoveries paved the way for the development of OMO-103, an Omomyc-based mini-protein therapeutic that became the first—and to date only—direct MYC inhibitor to successfully complete a Phase I clinical trial, providing the first clinical proof-of-concept for direct MYC inhibition. OMO-103 is currently being evaluated in Phase Ib/II clinical studies in combination with standard therapies. Beyond the translational path from laboratory to clinic, I will discuss the entrepreneurial insights gained during the journey and how to balance the academic and biotech worlds.
SHORT BIO:
Laura Soucek is ICREA Research Professor, Director of the Experimental Therapeutics Research Program and Head of the Models of Cancer Therapies Laboratories at the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) in Barcelona, Spain. In addition, she is Associate Professor at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and CSO and co-founder of Peptomyc S.L., where she served as CEO for 10 years. She graduated in Biological Sciences in 1996 and obtained her PhD in Genetics and Molecular Biology in 2001 at the University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy. She did her postdoc at University California San Francisco (UCSF; 2001-2006), where she was then promoted to Assistant Researcher (2006-2011). She has been leading her research laboratory at VHIO in Barcelona since then.
Laura is a key opinion leader in MYC biology and MYC inhibition, as well the developer of the most characterized MYC inhibitor known to date, Omomyc, which is the first MYC inhibitor to have successfully completed a Phase I clinical trial and is now in Phase Ib/II studies.
She is member of the Spanish Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (SEBBM), the Spanish Association for Cancer Research (ASEICA), the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and WICR (Women in Cancer Research).
