Mick Bhatia

Mick Bhatia is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences at McMaster University, affiliated with the Faculty of Health Sciences. He leads the Bhatia Program, focusing on cancer stem cell biology and regenerative medicine applications. His work targets leukemias and other cancers by identifying vulnerabilities in cancer stem cells while sparing normal stem cells.

Research Interests: Bhatia's lab investigates cancer stem cell biology, hematopoiesis from pluripotent stem cells, and development of therapies targeting leukemia-initiating cells. Key areas include chemical genomics for drug discovery, epigenetic regulation in cancer, and stem cell reprogramming to model diseases like acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Key Contributions: Pioneered methods to detect cancer stem cells and developed drug screening platforms using patient-derived cells. Notable for discovering that dopamine receptor signaling can selectively target AML progenitors and identifying SUMOylation dependencies in cancer stem cells. His work bridges basic science with clinical translation through drug efficacy/toxicity studies and stem cell-derived models.

Lab/Teams: The Bhatia Program integrates interdisciplinary teams across cancer biology, chemical biology, and regenerative medicine. Collaborations focus on translating stem cell discoveries into clinical tools for cancer treatment and diagnosis.