Katherine Bhatt

Katherine Bhatt has pioneered research on intercellular mitochondrial transfer in cancer, demonstrating that cancer cells acquire functional mitochondria from stromal cells through tunneling nanotubes to rescue oxidative phosphorylation capacity and overcome metabolic stress. Her research showed that mitochondrial transfer from bone marrow stromal cells to leukemia cells confers chemotherapy resistance by restoring mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP production. She established that blocking tunneling nanotube formation prevents mitochondrial transfer and sensitizes cancer cells to metabolic inhibitors. Her discovery of horizontal mitochondrial transfer as a drug resistance mechanism has opened new therapeutic strategies in oncology.