Tom Bhatt

Tom Bhatt studies replication stress as a mechanism of genome instability in cancer cells driven by oncogene activation. His research has characterized how oncogenes including RAS, MYC, and cyclin E drive aberrant DNA replication that generates replication fork stalling and collapse, producing DNA double-strand breaks and chromosomal rearrangements. He has examined ATR kinase signaling as the primary responder to replication stress and how cancer cells become addicted to ATR activity to survive oncogene-induced replication stress. His translational work has advanced ATR inhibitors as potential cancer therapeutics that selectively kill cancer cells experiencing high levels of replication stress.