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SOUTH ASIAN UNIVERSITY

A University Established by SAARC Nations

SOUTH ASIAN UNIVERSITY

A University established by SAARC Nations

Sonam Dhamija

Assistant Professor
PhD (Medical School Hannover, Hannover, Germany, 2011)

Contact Details

sdhamija(at)sau.int
South Asian University, New Delhi, India
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Profile

RNA Biology in Cancer laboratory

https://sdhamija2020.wixsite.com/rnabiology

Academic Career

  • Assistant Professor, South Asian University, New Delhi (Sept 2025 - Present)
  • Wellcome/DBT India Alliance Intermediate Fellow, CSIR-IGIB (Nov 2023 – Aug 2025)
  • AcSIR Assistant Professor, CSIR-IGIB, New Delhi (July 2021 – Aug 2025)
  • Ramalingaswami Fellow, CSIR-IGIB, New Delhi (Nov 2020 – Oct 2023)
  • Project Consultant, KSBS, IIT Delhi, New Delhi, India (Apr 2020 – July 2020)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), Heidelberg & Division of Cancer Research, University Clinic Freiburg, Germany (Sept 2017 – Aug 2019)
  • Cell Networks Postdoctoral Fellow, DKFZ, Heidelberg & Division of Cancer Research, University Clinic Freiburg, Germany (Sept 2015 – Aug 2017)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow (HiLF Project leader 2013-14), Institute of Physiological Chem., Medical School Hannover (MHH), Hannover, Germany (Jun 2011 – Jun 2015

Qualifications

  • Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.), Institute of Physiological Chemistry, Medical School Hannover (MHH), Germany, 2011.
  • M.Sc. in Microbial Gene Technology, Department of Microbial Technology, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai, India, 2006.
  • B.Sc. in Biotechnology (Hons.), Amity Institute of Biotechnology, NOIDA, India, 2004.

Research Interests

Our lab works on understanding novel gene regulatory mechanisms of carcinogenesis mediated by coding and non-coding RNAs, with a special focus on translational control. We are interested in bifunctional genes and transcripts, where there is an overlap in coding and non-coding functions of RNA. Stop-codon dysfunction by natural readthrough or cancer associated non-STOP mutations is another aspect which we are excited about. 


Recent Publications

  • Salim U, Menon MB, Dhamija S*, Vivekanandan P*(2025). RNA G-quadruplexes regulate mammalian mirtron biogenesis. J Biol Chem, 301(3): 108276. *corresponding
  • Pal J, Riester M, Ganner A, Ghosh A, Dhamija S, Mookherjee D, Voss C, Frew IJ, Kotsis F, Neumann-Haefelin E, Spang A, Diederichs S.A (2025). Nonstop mutations cause loss of renal tumor suppressor proteins VHL and BAP1 and affect multiple stages of protein translation. Science Advances, 11(7):eadr6375
  • Jose S, Sharma H, Insan J, Sharma K, Arora V, Puranapanda S, Dhamija S, Eid N, Menon MB. (2025). Kinase Inhibitor-Induced Cell-Type Specific Vacuole Formation in the Absence of Canonical ATG5-Dependent Autophagy Initiation Pathway. Mol Cell Biol, 45(3): 99-115.  
  • Ghosh A, Riester M, Pal J, Lainde KA, Tangermann C, Wanninger A, Dueren UK, Dhamija S, Diederichs S (2024). Suppressive cancer nonstop extension mutations increase C-terminal hydrophobicity and disrupt evolutionarily conserved amino acid patterns. Nature Communications, Oct 25;15(1):9209. 
  • Kumar A, Goyal N, Saranathana N, Dhamija S, Saraswat S, Menon MB and Vivekanandan P (2022). The slowing rate of CpG depletion in SARS-CoV-2 genomes is consistent with adaptations to the human host. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 39(3):msac029.  
  • Pal J, Becker A, Dhamija S, Seiler J, Abdelkarim M, Sharma Y, Behr J, Meng C, Ludwig C, Kuster B & Diederichs S (2021). Systematic analysis of migration factors by MigExpress identifies essential cell migration control genes in non-small cell lung cancer. Molecular Oncology, 15:1797-1817.
  • Dhamija S, Yang CM, Seiler J, Myacheva K, Caudron-Herger M, Wieland A, Abdelkarim M, Sharma Y, Riester M, Groß M, Maurer J & Diederichs S (2020). A pan-cancer analysis reveals nonstop extension mutations causing SMAD4 tumor suppressor degradation. Nat Cell Biol, 22: 999-1010.  
  • Dhamija S, Becker AC, Sharma Y, Myacheva K, Seiler J and Diederichs S (2019). LINC00261 and the adjacent gene FOXA2 are epithelial markers and are suppressed during lung cancer tumorigenesis and progression. Non-coding RNA, 5 (1), 2.
  • Menon MB & Dhamija S (2018). Beclin 1 Phosphorylation - at the Center of Autophagy Regulation. Front Cell Dev Biol. 6:137. 
  • Dhamija S* & Menon MB* (2018). Non-coding transcript variants of protein-coding genes - what are they good for? RNA Biol, 15: 1025-1031. *Corresponding author 
  • Dhamija S & Diederichs S (2016) From junk to master regulators of invasion: lncRNA functions in migration, EMT and metastasis. Int J Cancer, 139: 269-80.  Citations: 289 / IF2016: 6.513
  • Dhamija S, Winzen R, Doerrie A, Behrens G, Kuehne N, Schauerte C, Neumann E, Dittrich-Breiholz O, Kracht M & Holtmann H (2013) Interleukin-17 (IL-17) and IL-1 activate translation of overlapping sets of mRNAs, including that of the negative regulator of inflammation, MCPIP1. J Biol Chem 288: 19250-19259.  
  • Tiedje, C, Ronkina, N, Tehrani, M, Dhamija, S, Laass K, Holtmann H, Kotlyarov A & Gaestel M (2012) The p38/MK2-driven exchange between tristetraprolin and HuR regulates AU-rich element-dependent translation. PLoS Genet 8: e100297
  • Dhamija S, Kuehne N, Winzen R, Doerrie A, Dittrich-Breiholz O, Thakur BK, Kracht M & Holtmann H (2011) Interleukin-1 activates synthesis of interleukin-6 by interfering with a KSRP-dependent translational silencing mechanism. J Biol Chem 286: 33279-33288. 
  • Dhamija S, Doerrie A, Winzen R, Dittrich-Breiholz O, Taghipour A, Kuehne N, Kracht M & Holtmann H (2010) IL-1-induced post-transcriptional mechanisms target overlapping translational silencing and destabilizing elements in IκBzeta mRNA. J Biol Chem 285: 29165-29178.  

Awards & Honours

  • Invited Speaker at the India EMBO lecture course ‘’RNA-protein complexes: from molecular assembly to physiological functions and disease’’, NCCS, Pune, 24-28th Feb 2025.
  • DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance Intermediate Fellowship 2023 – 2028
  • Received IGIB-NIBMG collaborative grant - 2023-2025
  • Invited Speaker at the International Conference on Cancer Biology (ICCB), IIT Madras, Chennai, 14-16th September, 2023
  • Review editor at Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology - 2021 onwards
  • Ramalingaswami fellowship, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India 2020-23
  • Invited Speaker at the Montreal International Symposium on Angiogenesis and Metastasis (MISAM-2016), Montreal, Canada
  • CellNetworks Postdoctoral Fellowship Cluster of Excellence Cellular Networks, Heidelberg, Germany - 2015-2017

Last Updated : 05 Sep 2025