Keith Bhatt

Keith Bhatt investigates the molecular mechanism of RAD51-mediated homologous recombination and how disruption of this pathway creates cancer genome instability. His research has characterized the loading of RAD51 onto resected single-stranded DNA ends by BRCA2 and PALB2 and the subsequent strand exchange reaction that enables template-directed repair. He has developed super-resolution imaging approaches to visualize RAD51 filament assembly and dynamics at DNA damage sites in living cells. His mechanistic work on HR fidelity and how cancer-associated mutations in HR components affect RAD51 function informs understanding of BRCAness-associated genome instability patterns.