Mick Bhatt

Mick Bhatt investigates BRCA1 and BRCA2 function in homologous recombination and the mechanisms of synthetic lethality that underlie PARP inhibitor sensitivity in HR-deficient cancers. His research has characterized how BRCA proteins function in the HR repair pathway to facilitate strand invasion and template-directed repair of DNA double-strand breaks. He has identified mechanisms by which BRCAness in non-BRCA1/2-mutated cancers including PALB2, RAD51 paralog mutations, and epigenetic silencing creates HR deficiency and PARP inhibitor sensitivity. His work on acquired PARP inhibitor resistance including BRCA reversion mutations and restoration of HR has advanced understanding of clinical resistance mechanisms.