Nancy Bhatt

Nancy Bhatt has contributed to computational methods for neoantigen prediction and characterization of how neoantigen landscape and HLA diversity influence response to checkpoint immunotherapy. Her research developed improved algorithms for MHC-peptide binding prediction and neoantigen prioritization that more accurately identify immunogenic neoantigens presented to cytotoxic T cells in cancer. She has characterized how clonal neoantigens arising from truncal mutations provide more durable targets for anti-tumor immunity compared to subclonal neoantigens, explaining why high intratumoral heterogeneity correlates with inferior IO outcomes despite high mutation burden. Her work on HLA-I zygosity and heterozygosity as predictors of IO response has contributed to understanding how diversity in antigen presentation machinery shapes the breadth of anti-tumor T cell responses that checkpoint inhibitors can unleash.