Soni Deshwal

Dr. Soni Deshwal is a Group Leader at the Institute of Metabolism and Cell Death, Helmholtz Munich, where she investigates mitochondrial metabolic plasticity in stress responses and diseases like neurodegeneration. Her work is funded by an ERC Starting Grant.

• PhD at University of Padova, Italy (2014-2017)
• Postdoctoral Fellow at Max-Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing (2019-2024)
• Marie Skłodowska-Curie PhD fellow (2014-2017)
• Alexander von Humboldt-Research Fellow (2019-2021)

Her research focuses on mitochondrial dysfunction, ferroptosis, lipid metabolism, and cellular stress resilience. She discovered that mitochondria inhibit ferroptosis via CoQ transport to the plasma membrane.

Her publications highlight mitochondrial roles in ferroptosis, cholesterol synthesis, cardiomyocyte differentiation, and protease-mediated organelle regulation. Key subfields include lipid transport, ROS signaling, and metabolic pathways.

• ERC Starting Grant (2024): 1.5 million Euros for Mito-FerroQuest
• Young Investigator Award (2017): European Section of the International Society for Heart Research
• Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship (2014-2017)

She leads a research team at Helmholtz Munich, building on her postdoctoral work at Max-Planck Institute and University of Cologne, and PhD training at University of Padova.