Dr. Maria Rohm

Maria studied Biology in Heidelberg, Germany, and Manchester, UK. Having finished her PhD investigating adipose tissue lipolysis in obesity, she then studied adipose tissue function in cancer cachexia at the German Cancer Research Center. Being awarded a Novo Nordisk Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in 2014, she worked at the University of Oxford on the molecular basis of metabolic changes occurring in metabolic diseases, using a multi-omics approach. In 2017, Maria then joined the Institute for Diabetes and Cancer at the Helmholtz Center Munich as a junior group leader, and is now head of the research division "Tissue Crosstalk". Her work on understanding tissue communication and metabolic reprogramming in cachexia has won several prestigious grants including the ERC Starting Grant. Being in the Board of Directors and Educational Committee of the Cancer Cachexia Society, Maria is actively engaged in widening research and knowledge about cachexia. As cachexia is a fatal disease with currently no efficient treatment options, which affects a large percentage of patients with cancer, a better understanding of the pathomechanisms will directly aid patients. Maria’s aim for the future is to strengthen the idea that obesity/diabetes and cachexia are two sides of the same coin, and studying these metabolic diseases in the context of each other will lead to conceptual advances in both fields.