Kevin Bhatt

Kevin Bhatt investigates immunotherapy strategies for pancreatic cancer and mechanisms by which PDAC evades immune control. His research has characterized the dense desmoplastic stroma of PDAC as a physical and immunosuppressive barrier to effective anti-tumor immunity, including the roles of cancer-associated fibroblasts and immunosuppressive myeloid cells in creating the immune-excluded PDAC microenvironment. He has evaluated approaches to overcome PDAC immunosuppression including stroma-targeting agents, CXCR4 inhibitors, and FAK inhibitors combined with checkpoint blockade. His work on mRNA cancer vaccines targeting KRAS G12D mutations in PDAC has contributed to early clinical data on neoantigen vaccine responses.