Robert Bhatt

Robert Bhatt has contributed to establishing MSI-H/dMMR as the first tumor-agnostic predictive biomarker for checkpoint immunotherapy, contributing to clinical evidence supporting pembrolizumab approval for MSI-H/dMMR solid tumors regardless of histology. His research has examined the prevalence of MSI-H across tumor types including colorectal, endometrial, gastric, biliary, and other cancers, and has characterized how the degree of mutation burden and immune microenvironment features in MSI-H tumors relate to immunotherapy response magnitude and durability. He has investigated MSI testing methodologies including PCR-based MSI testing, MMR protein IHC, and NGS-based tumor mutational burden assessment, examining their concordance and relative clinical utility for identifying IO-sensitive tumors. His translational work on Lynch syndrome cancer surveillance and immunotherapy in Lynch syndrome-associated cancers has clinical implications for inherited cancer predisposition management.