Peter Bhatt

Peter Bhatt characterized Hedgehog pathway-driven cancer stem cell maintenance in basal cell carcinoma and medulloblastoma, identifying mechanisms of resistance to Smoothened inhibitors including SMO mutations, downstream GLI amplification, and compensatory Wnt pathway activation that sustain cancer stem cell self-renewal. His work on cancer stem cell metabolic dependencies revealed that Hedgehog-active cancer stem cells exhibit unique lipid metabolism requirements exploitable for combination therapy with pathway inhibitors. He develops next-generation Hedgehog pathway inhibitors targeting downstream GLI transcription factors to overcome Smoothened inhibitor resistance.