Welcome from the Director
Welcome to the Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research.
We are a community of researchers with diverse expertise and at all career stages who are making discoveries to advance science, medicine and health.
It is a privilege to be serving as Director, a role I assumed September 1, 2021, of the Donnelly Centre as a globally renowned discovery engine for fundamental biomedical sciences. The cross-pollination that comes from having under one roof world experts and trainees from various disciplines—engineering, genetics, computational biology and molecular and stem cell biology—allows for new thinking to flourish and to fuel breakthroughs.
I have closely followed spectacular advances made at the Centre from its inception in 2005, based on the creative vision of Drs. James Friesen and Cecil Yip, and under Dr. Brenda Andrews’ exemplary leadership over the next 15 years. From mapping biomolecular networks required for cellular life to engineering stem cells for therapy, to fundamental insights about the mechanics of diverse diseases and conditions—from cancer to autism. In addition to revealing new biology, these discoveries have opened possibilities for better diagnosis and treatment.
A lot of this amazing progress was made thanks to the Centre’s investigators being at the forefront of technological advancement that has transformed research in the 21st century. I look forward to continuing this legacy of research excellence and innovation as we take on new challenges to map higher order cellular networks that sustain tissues and organs. With the recent progress in gene editing, single cell analysis, organ-on-a-chip platforms and machine learning to name a few, we have unparalleled opportunities to create new insights about how organisms function, how disease unfolds and how to imagine new treatments.
The Donnelly Centre exists because of the vision of philanthropist Terrence Donnelly and his belief that foundational science is important, and that discovery research will solve the problems of tomorrow. Our ideas are unlimited, but to continue performing at the cutting-edge of discovery research, we need to fuel those ideas and I’m excited to engage with stakeholders and potential donors to help support the next breakthroughs in the Centre.
We will continue to attract and retain the best minds to enable further discoveries. At the same time we will expand on our collaborations with some of the best hospitals in the country, which are only a stone's throw away from the Centre. This is an incredibly exciting time for research as we lay the groundwork for personalised medicine and better health for all.
I invite you to visit the individual lab websites of our principal investigators to learn how the Donnelly Centre is driving progress in biology and biomedicine.
Stephane Angers, PhD
Professor and Director
Donnelly Centre