Advancing discovery, medicine and health

The Donnelly Centre is a global research hub where scientists from diverse fields explore the power of genomic technology to advance discovery, medicine and health.

Donnelly Centre Research Themes

Feb 3, 2026

How a “sidetrack project” led to one of Mikko Taipale’s most influential papers

Included the list of Donnelly’s most impactful work, the Taipale Lab published the Nature Methods paper “An efficient KRAB domain for CRISPRi applications in human cells” in 2020. It was research that Mikko Taipale refers to as a “sidetrack” project stemming from other research, resulting in a path he and his PhD student Nader Alerasool followed until they reached a new discovery.

Jan 22, 2026

“Chicken science” and how Donnelly’s newest PI is bringing an old-school system model into the modern age

By welcoming Ashley Libby to our building, the Donnelly Centre is welcoming a return to an older system model; an avian organism more likely to be found in a lab’s lunch fridge than found in their research. The system model of the domesticated chicken, or Gallus gallus domesticus, has fallen out of fashion in recent decades, but Libby was drawn to the model’s reliable breeding schedule and how its embryo and organ system formation is on the timescale of hours, instead of days.

Dec 16, 2025

Wishing our community a warm and restorative winter break!

With snow covering the Donnelly Centre’s grounds, it is officially the season to take some time to appreciate family, friends, and the rest that comes with a much-deserved break.