Mickie Bhatia: Embryonic stem cells come of age

From cloning to political controversy, human embryonic stem cells consistently capture newspaper headlines. With remarkable regenerative abilities, stem cells theoretically possess the potential to replace any diseased or damaged tissue. Governments around the world are now encouraging their top stem cell experts to conduct their research at home. In 2006, Canada succeeded in enticing 35-year-old Mickie Bhatia to stay in his native country and direct its first center for human embryonic stem cell research, the At McMaster, Bhatia is trying to figure out what controls stem cell differentiation and what defines their environment. He's found that alterations in canonical developmental networks including the Notch, Wnt, and Hedgehog signaling pathways, alter cell differentiation (1). Swapping out one Wnt gene for another, for example , can make a pluripotent cell turn mesodermal (2). Bhatia is also trying to find ways to distinguish between normal, pluripo-tent, proliferative cells and those that lead to tumors (3). These so-called cancer stem cells may be to blame for the recurrence of cancer after therapy; they drive tumor growth and spreading, and radiation treatments don't appear to harm them. Finally, Bhatia is looking to harness the power of stem cells without encountering the ethical concerns that go hand-in-hand with embryonic stem cell research by experimenting with induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells derived from human skin–derived fibroblasts. If iPS cells can be reliably reprogrammed, they could provide all of the advantages of embryonic stem cells, minus ethical unease. Recently, Bhatia and his colleagues optimized iPS cell generation by creating markers that identify cells in the process of being reprogrammed (4). How do the guidelines for using embryonic stem cell lines in Canada compare to the US? They're not as prescriptive as the rules are in the United States. You can work with established human embryonic stem cell lines as long as appropriate consent was given to derive those lines. And unlike in the US, the rules that determine which lines can be used apply to all stem cell work. If you're doing the work on Canadian soil, you have to follow these guidelines no matter where the money comes from. Has the recent surge in media attention on stem cells as a result of US policy changes put additional pressure on you? I think that now the public is going to want to see results. But what isn't talked about enough is that we are actually at a …