Shirin Bhatt

Shirin Bhatt investigates the lipid biochemistry of ferroptosis, focusing on how polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)-containing phospholipids are peroxidized to toxic levels during ferroptotic cell death. Her research characterized ACSL4 (acyl-CoA synthetase long chain family member 4) as a key enzyme that incorporates PUFAs into phospholipids, thereby determining ferroptosis sensitivity. She demonstrated that ACSL4 expression is a biomarker of ferroptosis vulnerability in cancer cells. Her lipidomics approaches to characterize the lipid peroxidome of ferroptotic cancer cells have revealed new mechanistic insights and potential therapeutic targets.