Mick Bhatia, PhD

Scientific Director, McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute
Canada Research Chair in Human Stem Biology
Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences

Mickie "Mick" Bhatia is the scientific director of the first human cancer and stem cell biology research institute in Canada. Bhatia is the inaugural holder of a professorial chair in cancer and stem cell biology, a position funded by Michael G. DeGroote. He also holds a senior Canada Research Chair.

Bhatia is an expert in regenerative medicine whose research has focused on characterizing and understanding the regulatory mechanisms in human stem cells. He is the only published stem cell biologist in the area of human embryonic stem cells in Canada and is the author of more than 50 papers on the fundamental principles of human stem cell biology. His new positions allow him to address the cancer aspects of stem cell biology and head a multi-disciplinary program in cancer and stem cell research, clinical application and training.

A graduate of McMaster’s Faculty of Science, Bhatia received the Premier’s Research Excellence Award from the Ontario Ministry of Energy, Science and Technology, and was named the winner of the Scientist Scholarship for Biomedical Sciences from the Medical Research Council of Canada. In 2001, he was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.

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Bradley Doble, PhD

Scientist, McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute
Canada Research Chair in Human Stem Cell Biology
Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences

Bradley Doble joined the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute in 2006 to pursue his expertise in understanding the biology of human embryonic stem cells. In May 2007 he was awarded a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair.

His research focuses on the signaling pathways, or circuitry that allows 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. How this circuitry works is not well understood and Doble hopes to shed new light on the subject.

His goal is to develop a better understanding of the process in order to provide new insight into how cancer develops and how stem cells could be used for the regeneration of tissue that has been destroyed by disease or injury.

Doble earned both his B.Sc. and PhD from the University of Manitoba. Before joining McMaster, he worked at the Ontario Cancer Institute. He held a postdoctoral research fellowship from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research from 2001 to 2006.

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Sheila Singh, MD, PhD

Scientist, McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute

Sheila Singh is the newest senior scientist to join the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute. A graduate of McMaster’s Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine in 1997, Dr. Singh also earned a PhD in 2005 from the University of Toronto, and completed her neurosurgery residency in 2006.

Her research program for her PhD involved identification and characterization of cancer stem cells in human brain tumours. During her doctoral work she was instrumental in the discovery that brain tumours get started from cancer stem cells, which go on to fuel a tumour's growth. The discovery holds the potential for creating cancer therapies that target the stem cells, and she will pursue this research in her role at McMaster.

Combining her work as a pediatric neurosurgeon at McMaster Children’s Hospital with her role as a research scientist will allow Singh to bring unique insights and exposure to patients she experiences as a doctor to her work in the laboratory.

In 2005 she placed first in the Thomas P. Morley Neurosurgical Competition in recognition of outstanding accomplishments in neurosurgical basic science research and for contributing to the advancement of the field.

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Christopher Wynder, PhD

Scientist, McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute
Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences

Christopher Wynder was recruited to the McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute in 2006, after completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, an independent, non-profit biomedical institute founded in 1892. His research focuses on understanding how stem cells can become any cell in the body. He is also investigating why some stem cells multiply normally, while others give rise to cancer.

Wynder’s work at the Institute involves determining the interplay of different factors within stem cells that have an impact in the decision on whether to multiply. This is important for cancer research, as this decision is a key step in development of the disease. Knowing how a stem cell first mutates into a cancerous cell may lead to the ability to better assess what factors lead to the development of cancerous tumours.

Wynder earned his PhD from Rockefeller University, a prestigious New York research institute. He also has a B.Sc. from the University of Western Ontario.