Dr. med. Sonja Wörmann

Academic Career and Research Areas

Dr. Sonja Wörmann studied human medicine at the LMU. Dr. Wörmann was trained in internal medicine at the II Medical Clinic and Polyclinic of the Klinikum Rechts der Isar and worked as a clinician scientist with the group of Prof. Alguel. In 2015, she was accepted into the Else-Kröner Fresenius research college. From 2016 -2021 she conducted research as part of the Mildred-Scheel Postdoctoral Research Fellowship of the German Cancer Aid at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston Texas in the Department of Gastroenterolgy, Hepatology and Nutrition. In 2021-2022 she recieved a faculty position as an Instructor in the Department of Molecular Pathology at MD Anderson Cancer Center and was appointed as Assistant Professor in the Department of Cancer Biology in 2022.
After returning to the Klinikum Rechts der Isar, she started her own Max-Eder junior group in 2023. In 2024 she received an ERC Starting Grant for her research of APOBEC3A in pancreatic cancer.
Dr. Wörmann investigates the role of cytidine deaminases, especially APOBEC3A, as important mutagenic driver in pancreatic cancer. In her work, Dr. Wörmann  investigates the effects of APOBECs on tumor evolution, tumor heterogeneity, metastasis as well as pre-existing and acquired drug resistance. Her goal is to better understand the function of APOBECs as genomic and post-transcriptional modulators in cancer and inflammatory diseases and to provide improved therapy targeted to specific effects resulting from APOBEC activation in cancer patients.

Awards

• 2023 Max-Eder Group leader, German Cancer Aid, DKTK Investigator
• 2023 Shelby-Lavine Scholar for Pancreatic Cancer Research: “APOBEC3A increases the clonal diversity and facilitates metastatic evolution in PDAC” 
• 2023 Outstanding Research Publication Award – Basic Research supported by The Ernst W. Bertner Memorial Fund; “APOBEC3A drives deaminase domain-independent chromosomal instability to promote pancreatic cancer metastasis”. (published in Nature Cancer, 2021)
• 2021 American Pancreatic Association Foundation 2021 Young Investigator in Pancreatology Award: “Role of APOBEC3A in pancreatitis and inflammation triggered carcinogenesis”. 
• 2021 MDACC SPORE in Gastrointestinal Cancer, Career Enhancement Program Research Award. “Deciphering treatment vulnerabilities for APOBEC3A high and CIN prone PDACs” 
• 2016 Mildred Scheel Postdoctoral Research Fellowship; German Cancer Aid Foundation. 
• 2015 Else-Kröner Fresenius Foundation Research College