Mick Bhatia ‘92

Mick Bhatia is a recognized leader in Canada in the field of human hematopoietic stem cell biology and pluripotent stem cells (both embryonic and reprogrammed adult forms). Dr. Bhatia has made several important advancements in human stem cell research, particularly related to blood forming stem cells.

Although stem cells can serve as sources for cellular and organ replacement in tissue damaged by trauma or genetic influences, and for disease intervention, programs focus on human cancer and using human stem cells to understand how cancer begins and how treatment may be revolutionized based on this new knowledge.

Bhatia’s research program sets out to understand the molecular mechanisms which orchestrate somatic and pluripotent human stem cell development, and how adult differentiated cells such as skin can be reset–reprogrammed to acquire other stem cell fates. His laboratory has two themes of interest: Human pluripotent and hematopoietic stem cells. Although each is unique, there is complementary overlap to allow for an enhanced understanding of the overall nature of novel human stem cell populations and the basis of human cell fate decisions and cellular programming, and how these may relate to rare cancer initiating cells in humans.