Naomi Bhatt

Naomi Bhatt studies the mechanistic intersection between ER stress and autophagy in cancer cells, two interconnected proteostasis pathways that determine cell fate under stress. Her research has mapped how IRE1, PERK, and ATF6 signaling engage autophagy machinery to clear misfolded proteins and damaged organelles, promoting cancer cell survival under therapeutic stress. She demonstrated that the ER-phagy and UPR-autophagy axis creates therapeutic resistance that can be overcome by dual targeting. Her work defines the proteostasis network as an integrated cancer survival mechanism.