Ashley Bhatt

Ashley Bhatt investigates the immunosuppressive GBM tumor microenvironment with a focus on tumor-associated microglia and macrophages. Her research has applied single-cell RNA sequencing to map the cellular composition of the GBM immune microenvironment and characterize the transcriptional states of resident microglia versus recruited macrophages and their immunosuppressive activities. She has identified molecular targets within the myeloid compartment that can reprogram tumor-associated microglia to adopt anti-tumoral phenotypes. Her mechanistic work on GBM immune exclusion provides a rationale for myeloid reprogramming strategies to sensitize GBM to T cell-based immunotherapies.