The Donnelly Centre welcomes Dr. Lea Harrington as new professor leading research on aging

The Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research welcomes Professor Lea Harrington and her team to help drive forward research on Stem Cells, Regenerative Medicine and Aging.

The Donnelly Centre is a research hub based at the University of Toronto’s Temerty Faculty of Medicine, where scientists from diverse fields work across disciplinary boundaries and develop cutting-edge technologies to advance discovery, medicine and health. In addition to a newly expanded research theme that now involves aging, the Donnelly Centre’s faculty and trainees also conduct research on Functional Genomics, Bioengineering and Computational Biology & AI.

In addition to her appointment at the Donnelly Centre, Harrington is a professor and Chair of the Department of Biochemistry, adjunct professor in the Department of Medicine at Université de Montréal and visiting professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. She joined the Donnelly Centre on March 1, 2025.

“My lab members and I are excited to be joining the Donnelly Centre and its ongoing initiatives in regenerative medicine, aging and genome-wide approaches to understanding cell function and human disease,” said Harrington. “This new position is an opportunity for us to be inspired by the cutting-edge advances happening at the Donnelly Centre. I’m looking forward to the coffee cup interactions that will spur new ideas for research.”

The Harrington lab studies the mechanisms by which the ends of chromosomes, called telomeres, are maintained and protected by the telomerase enzyme. The lab group has used different models, including yeast and mammals, to determine the impacts of restricted telomerase function in aging, cancer and stem cell regeneration.

Harrington and her lab members will continue their research on the molecular mechanisms of aging at the Donnelly Centre, with the goal of learning how and why we become vulnerable to certain health conditions, including cancer and the loss of tissue or immune function, as we age. Moving its lab to the Donnelly Centre will allow the group to expand and advance its research on aging through the use of organoids and other human tissue models, produced in collaboration with the Applied Organoid Core, let by professor of biochemistry Liliana Attisano, and the Self-Driving Lab for Human Organ Mimicry, an initiative of the Acceleration Consortium, co-led by professor of biomedical engineering Milica Radisic.

Collaborations have already begun between the Harrington lab and other Donnelly Centre labs, including that of Brenda Andrews, university professor of molecular genetics, and Charles Boone, professor of molecular genetics. With support from the McLaughlin Foundation, the multidisciplinary team—which includes scientists from the SickKids Research Institute and the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute—is using the power of high-throughput genetics to study the vulnerabilities that underlie cell and tissue aging.

The Harrington group has successfully used similar approaches to interrogate the genetic landscapes that influence cellular aging; it will expand these efforts at the Donnelly Centre to find methods for rewiring aged cells and tissues back to a more functional state.

The Donnelly Centre’s labs, including that of associate professor Penney Gilbert, university professors Michael Sefton and Molly Shoichet and professors Stéphane Angers, Cindi Morshead and Derek van der Kooy, are already working towards improving the treatment of challenging diseases by exploring how cells and tissues with regenerative capabilities can be integrated into medicine. With the addition of Harrington’s expertise and interests, the Donnelly Centre’s researchers can build on their seminal insights into debilitating diseases and gain a deeper understanding of how the treatment of these diseases can contribute to healthy aging.

An effort to expand research on aging was borne out of the recognition by Donnelly Centre and Temerty Faculty of Medicine leadership that many of the diseases being studied at the Donnelly Centre are, in fact, directly linked to age. The innovative approach of the Donnelly Centre’s researchers in studying disease at both a fine resolution and a large scale make it an environment that is conducive to groundbreaking research in aging and regenerative medicine, including the role of stem cells in regenerative medicine.

The Donnelly Centre will have the opportunity to showcase its advances in aging research this fall as the host of the second meeting of the newly inaugurated Canadian Translational Geroscience Network (CTGN). Harrington is one of the founding members of the CTGN, which was formed to spearhead collaborations and provide support for trainees in the field of geroscience, as well as build new connections between research and clinical communities across Canada.

“I extend a very warm welcome to Lea Harrington as a new professor at the Donnelly Centre,” said Stéphane Angers, professor and director of the Donnelly Centre. “We believe that Dr. Harrington will bring a central focus on the molecular underpinnings of aging to our faculty that will inspire cross-disciplinary collaboration and wider research initiatives to study aging from complementary perspectives.”

Visit Harrington’s faculty profile on the Donnelly Centre website to learn more about her and her research.