Our Research

Welcome to the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research where scientists from diverse fields explore the power of genomic technology, large scale data acquisition, and computational biology to advance science, medicine, and health.

Our scientific team encompasses both newly-emerging and highly-recognized leaders in fields ranging from systems biology to bioengineering and computer science, and they have made some of the key technological advances that have transformed research in biology over the past decade.

For the comprehensive analysis of biological networks, the Donnelly Centre houses fully automated platforms for unbiased and quantitative analysis of genetics, proteomics, gene expression and splicing, metabolomics, and cell biology. The Centre’s investigators are also inventing new gene editing tools, and they have created one of the first genome-wide CRISPR libraries to study gene function systematically in human cells. Meanwhile, experts in protein engineering have created vast libraries of synthetic peptides and antibody-based reagents for both research and as potential treatments for various cancers and other therapies, including regenerative medicine. To explore fundamental biology and meet the challenges of precision medicine, several labs are exploring the genotype-to-phenotype relationship with a number of different approaches, including systematic variant effect mapping in disease genes. And our computational biology experts are leading the way in the development of neural networks and machine learning tools for the prediction of gene and pathway function as well as the health risk and outcomes associated with a wide variety of diseases, ranging from breast cancer to leukemia to diabetes.

Through creative bioengineering, our researchers are enlisting stem cells for new therapies, with promising findings for neurogenesis and brain repair, diabetes, and blindness. Meanwhile, the genome scientists are getting to the bottom of the genetic origins of autism. To have us better prepared for potential emerging pathogens, other discoveries hold promise for dealing with the global health burden imposed by parasites, or they address the need for new devices required for rapid diagnostics.

Donnelly Centre researchers tackle these major challenges in basic science and human health while training a new generation of interdisciplinary researchers. The Centre’s 550-strong research community comprises graduate students, postdoctoral research fellows, research associates and principal investigators who interact in a state-of-the-art discovery environment.

For more information on individual researcher’s programs please visit their faculty pages.