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Smaller TextMcMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute
— Photo credit: Morag Stewart
The McMaster Stem Cell & Cancer Research Institute was established in early 2006 with the recruitment of world-class stem cell researcher Mick Bhatia. Under his leadership, the Institute has grown rapidly and is home to a team of four leading-edge stem cell investigators and their research programs, with another 32 post-graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, laboratory assistants and staff.
The Institute’s research focus is the molecular determinants of cancer and tissue repair. Bhatia is a recognized leader in Canada in the field of human hematopoietic stem cell biology and embryonic stem cells. He has made several important advancements, particularly related to blood forming stem cells and more recent embryonic stem cells. Although he believes stem cells can serve as sources for cellular and organ replacement in tissue damaged by trauma or genetic influences, and for disease intervention, his focus is on human cancer, and using human stem cells to understand how cancer begins and how treatment may be revolutionized.
Other research foci for the Institute include work on the signalling pathways or circuitry that allow embryonic stem cells to make exact copies of themselves while retaining the ability to change into all the various cell types found in an adult. As well, other work aims to understand the regulation of pluripotency in embryonic stem cells and what define stem cells at the genetic level.
Set up with $10-million in support from Canadian philanthropist and businessman Michael G. DeGroote, the Institute encompasses 13,000 square feet of state-of-the-art facilities including tissue culture suites, a large molecular lab, histopathology and imaging analysis suite and a stem cell transplantation and in vivo modelling unit.
Last month businessman David Braley announced a $15 million commitment to ensure the creation of a unique Human Embryonic Stem Cell Library at the Institute, which will culture and engineer cell lines through a process of ‘knocking down’ individual genes and analyze the characteristics, behaviours and interactions of other genes in the cells.
The Institute also has access to several other unique complementary laboratory facilities at McMaster, including the new biophotonic facility, which is an advanced live cell imaging centre.
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