Fiona Bhatt

Fiona Bhatt leads drug discovery efforts targeting the IRE1 kinase-RNase arm of the UPR for cancer therapy. Her laboratory developed KIRA (Kinase-Inhibiting RNase Attenuators) series compounds that allosterically inhibit IRE1 kinase activity to suppress XBP1 splicing and downstream UPR-mediated cancer cell survival. She characterized the IRE1 kinase inhibitor mechanism of action across diverse cancer types including multiple myeloma and solid tumors. Her structure-activity relationship studies have informed the preclinical-to-clinical advancement of IRE1-targeted cancer drugs.