Bioengineering
Donnelly Centre Research Themes
Our faculty are developing cutting-edge tools and techniques—such as advanced microscopy, organoids and organs-on-chips—to make research more efficient and more accurately reflect biological processes. By leveraging technological innovation and biomimetic design, we aim to transform how diseases are studied and treated.
Bioengineering News
Nov 2, 2026
Researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a more accurate way to measure muscle growth in laboratory-grown muscle tissue, a step that could help scientists study muscle health, aging and disease without relying as heavily on tests in humans.
Oct 28, 2026
A study from the University of Toronto’s Donnelly Centre found that pairing an engineered enzyme with neural progenitor cells supported the survival of transplanted cells and improved functional recovery in an experimental model of stroke.
Jan 22, 2026
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.
Jun 12, 2025
A postdoctoral fellow from the Wheeler Microfluidics Laboratory has published research on the ebb and flow of bacteria in the human digestive system. Dr. Ali Salari is one of two authors, along with Dr. Jonas Cremer of Stanford’s Department of Biology, of “Diurnal Variations in Digestion and Flow Drive Microbial Dynamics in the Gut,” which went live as a highlighted article in the journal PRX Life on June 9th.