The Bhandari lab is interested in identifying signaling proteins/mechanisms that play a decisive role in determining whether cells survive or succumb to ER stress. Interestingly, cancer cells are able to alleviate high levels of ER stress and their adaptive ability to survive through ER stress has been correlated to their invasiveness/malignancy and chemo-resistance. Thus, to be able to design effective strategies for cancer treatment, it is crucial to delineate the signaling mechanisms that endow cancer cells with a cyto-protective phenotype. Her long-term goal is to determine if the switch from survival to apoptotic signaling by UPR can be manipulated to achieve pharmacological intervention not only in cancer but also other diseases whose etiology involves ER stress.