Cecilia Söderberg-Naucler
Cecilia Söderberg-Nauclér is Professor of Medical Microbial Pathogenesis at Karolinska Institutet (since 2008), where she heads the Cellular and Molecular Immunology Research Group within the Department of Medicine, Solna. She is also Professor of Immunovirology at the University of Turku (since 2022), where she leads the Immunometabolism Research Group within the InFLAMES Research Flagship and serves as Director of the Infection and Immunity Unit.
Her research focuses on inflammation and cancer, with a strong emphasis on elucidating oncogenic mechanisms and the role of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) as a potential oncogenic virus. A central aim of her work is to determine whether HCMV-driven cellular reprogramming contributes to tumor initiation, progression, and therapy resistance, and whether viral components can be exploited as therapeutic targets. Her research addresses how HCMV influences cellular metabolism, immune dysregulation, and chronic inflammation, and how these processes shape tumor biology and treatment responses. She has published more than 150 original research articles, authored 31 review articles and six book chapters, and holds nine patents.
Professor Söderberg-Nauclér has supervised 24 PhD theses and 35 postdoctoral researchers, and currently supervises nine PhD students and four postdoctoral fellows. She has held several prestigious positions in Sweden, including a research appointment in Molecular Virology at the Swedish Medical Research Council (2008–2014) and an Academic Scientist position in Medicine at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2004–2008). In 2016, she was invited by then U.S. Vice President Joe Biden to serve on the expert panel of the Cancer Moonshot Project.
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