Srinivasa Bhatt

Srinivasa Bhatt is a leader in understanding perineural invasion — the process by which cancer cells invade and travel along nerves — as a major route of cancer spread particularly in pancreatic, head and neck, and prostate cancers. His research has revealed the molecular signals including NGF, GDNF, and netrin-1 that attract cancer cells to nerves and enable perineural invasion. He has demonstrated that perineural invasion is an independent predictor of poor prognosis and local recurrence. His work has identified therapeutic strategies to block nerve-cancer interactions.