Penny Bhatt

Penny Bhatt investigates chromosomal instability (CIN) in cancer and the mechanisms by which incorrect chromosome segregation generates cancer cell aneuploidy. Her research has characterized how centrosome amplification generates multipolar spindles and missegregation errors that produce CIN in cancer cells. She has examined spindle assembly checkpoint defects that allow cells to escape mitotic arrest despite misaligned chromosomes, contributing to ongoing chromosomal missegregation. Her translational work explores CIN as a potential therapeutic vulnerability through pharmacological targeting of spindle dynamics and mitotic checkpoint components to selectively kill cancer cells with high rates of chromosomal missegregation.