Dr. Soni Deshwal
Group LeaderMitochondria thrive on flexibility, but in diseases like neurodegeneration and aging, they lose their ability to adapt. Understanding their metabolic plasticity could be the key to restoring cellular resilience and combating disease.
Mitochondria thrive on flexibility, but in diseases like neurodegeneration and aging, they lose their ability to adapt. Understanding their metabolic plasticity could be the key to restoring cellular resilience and combating disease.
Research we do
The complex role of mitochondria in cell death fascinates me. How can a single organelle both initiate and inhibit cellular death? I am driven to understand the metabolic plasticity of these organelles and how their dynamic flexibility shapes cellular outcomes under stress.
About Soni Deshwal
Soni is passionate about the basic questions in mitochondrial biology. Currently she is leading a group at Helmholtz-Munich, funded by an ERC Starting Grant. Her research focuses on the metabolic plasticity of mitochondria, particularly in relation to stress responses and cell death. Soni gained extensive mitochondrial expertise during her postdoctoral work at the Max-Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing and during her PhD at the University of Padova. She became particularly interested in ferroptosis during her postdoc, where she discovered that mitochondria can inhibit ferroptosis by transporting a lipid molecule, CoQ, to the plasma membrane. Her work aims to understand how mitochondria adapt to cellular stress and how their metabolic flexibility can be leveraged to combat diseases like neurodegeneration and mitochondrial disorders.
Skills & Expertise & Scientific Interests
Cell Biology Ferroptosis MitochrondiaMetabolismNeurodegenerationLipid Metabolism
Professional Background
Group Leader at Helmholtz Munich
Institute of Metabolism and Cell Death, Helmholtz Munich
Postdoctoral Fellow
Max-Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Cologne, Germany
Postdoctoral Fellow
University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
With Prof. Dr. Thomas Langer (Mitochondrial Proteostasis and Aging)
Marie Skłodowska-Curie PhD fellow
School of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Padova, Italy
Prof. Fabio Di Lisa
Thesis: Role of monoamine oxidases in mitochondrial dysfunction and diabetic cardiomyopathy
Lab of Prof. Stefan Janssens
KU Leuven, Belgium
Lab of Dr. Thomas Krieg and Prof. Mike Murphy
MRC Unit, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Masters in Molecular Genetics
Department of Genetics, University of Leicester, United Kingdom
Thesis in the group of Dr. Eamonn Mallon
Topic: Functional role of anti-microbial peptides in the insect (Bombus terrestris) immune response against trypanosome Crithidia (mark: Merit)
Bachelors in Biotechnology
Department of Biotechnology, Amity University, Rajasthan, India
Thesis in the group of Prof. Gursaran Prasad Talwar and Dr. Jagdish Gupta (Delhi)
Thesis: Technique development in the expression and development of recombinant anti-human chorionic gonadotropin vaccine for fertility control (mark: Distinction)
Honors and Awards
ERC starting of 1.5 million Euros for Mito-FerroQuest (Project 101162697)
2024NK and Irene Cheung Family Scholar
Scholarship to attend Keystone meeting on Mitochondrial Biochemistry in Health and Disease, Breckenridge, Colorado, USA
2022Alexander von Humboldt-Research Fellowship
for Postdoctoral work in Germany
2019 - 2021Young Investigator Award
from the European Section of the International Society for Heart Research, Hamburg, Germany
2017International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) fellowship to attend the annual meeting of the European Section of the International Society for Heart Research in Hamburg, Germany
2017Best Poster award in International Society for Heart Research, Bordeaux, France
2015Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship for PhD in Padova, Italy
2014 - 2017Scholarship from University of Leicester, United Kingdom to do Masters in Science
2012 - 2013
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