Dr Mick Bhatia

Dr Mick Bhatia has been recruited to head up a recently created institute for human cancer and stem cell biology research at McMaster Univ. Bhatia formally begins his duties Jan 1/06 in a facility, housed in the new Michael G DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery and financed with a $105-million donation from retired industrialist Michael DeGroote (R$, January 28/04). Bhatia comes to McMaster from the Univ of Western Ontario, where he was a scientist and director of the Krembil Centre for Stem Cell Biology, part of the Robarts Research Institute. The new institute will launch with 21 scientists and staff and ramp up to 65 including graduate students within one year. Bhatia, 35, is Canada’s only published stem cell biologist focused on human embryonic stem cells and the author of more than 50 papers. He holds a BSc from McMaster, and a PhD in human biology from the Univ of Guelph….