Kieran O'Donnell, McGill University

Research

Biobank Childhood Adversity Depression Disease Course Dna Methylation Epigenetic Age Longitudinal Population-Based Cohort Polygenic Risk

Latest papers

Sex-specific interaction effects of Syntaxin 1A coexpression network and childhood trauma on adult depressive symptoms.
EBioMedicine · 2026
Differential interactions between gene expressions and stressors across the lifespan in major depressive disorder.
Journal of affective disorders · 2024
Unified epigenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic taxonomy of Alzheimer's disease progression and heterogeneity.
Science advances · 2022

All 4 publications

Latest funding

Identifying mechanisms and biomarkers of perinatal depression for improving treatment and risk prediction: A translational approach
CIHR · 2023 · Supervisor
$270,000
A translational approach to mechanistic biomarker discovery for perinatal depression
CIHR · 2020 · Supervisor
$135,000
Integrating Multi-Omics, Multi-Modal Neuroimaging and Artificial Intelligence for Biologically-defined Staging and Stratification in the Alzheimer's Disease spectrum
CIHR · 2020 · Co-investigator
$745,876

All 5 grants and awards

4 publications.

01

Sex-specific interaction effects of Syntaxin 1A coexpression network and childhood trauma on adult depressive symptoms.

Arcego DM, Dalmaz C, Pokhvisneva I, Wang Z, Barth B, Patel S, Xia Q, de Lima RMS, de Mendonça Filho EJ, Kobor MS, O'Donnell K, Meaney MJ, Silveira PP

EBioMedicine2026

DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2025.106062 PMID: 41380478

02

Differential interactions between gene expressions and stressors across the lifespan in major depressive disorder.

Wang R, Su Y, O'Donnell K, Caron J, Meaney M, Meng X, Li Y

Journal of affective disorders2024

DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2024.07.069 PMID: 39029669

03

Unified epigenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic taxonomy of Alzheimer's disease progression and heterogeneity.

Iturria-Medina Y, Adewale Q, Khan AF, Ducharme S, Rosa-Neto P, O'Donnell K, Petyuk VA, Gauthier S, De Jager PL, Breitner J, Bennett DA

Science advances2022

DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abo6764 PMID: 36399579

04

Genetically predicted gene expression of prefrontal DRD4 gene and the differential susceptibility to childhood emotional eating in response to positive environment.

Barth B, Bizarro L, Miguel PM, Dubé L, Levitan R, O'Donnell K, Meaney MJ, Silveira PP

Appetite2020

DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2020.104594 PMID: 31927071

Identifying mechanisms and biomarkers of perinatal depression for improving treatment and risk prediction: A translational approach

SupervisorCIHR2023CIHR REDI Early Career Transition Award - General

Principal investigators: Eid, Rand

Keywords: Biomarker Discovery; Gene Expression; Neural Circuits; Perinatal Depression; Translational Neuroscience

$270,000

A translational approach to mechanistic biomarker discovery for perinatal depression

SupervisorCIHR2020CIHR Fellowship

Principal investigators: Eid, Rand

Keywords: Biomarker Discovery; Gene Expression; Hormone Sensitivity; Perinatal Depression; Translational Neuroscience

$135,000

Integrating Multi-Omics, Multi-Modal Neuroimaging and Artificial Intelligence for Biologically-defined Staging and Stratification in the Alzheimer's Disease spectrum

Co-investigatorCIHR2020Project Grant

Principal investigators: Iturria Medina, Yasser

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Daily Clinical Practice; Identifying Disease Stages And Variants; Multi-Omics And Multi-Modal Brain Imaging; Open-Access Software; Personalized Medicine In Neurodegeneration

$745,876

Childhood adversity and biologically-informed genetic profiling: the early origins of cardio-metabolic disease

Co-investigatorCIHR2019Project Grant

Principal investigators: Silveira, Patricia P

Keywords: Cardiometabolic Risk; Food Preferences; Insulin

$654,076

Genetic and psychosocial predictors of epigenetic age acceleration: clinical significance for stress-related mental disorders

Principal investigatorCIHR2016Project Grant

Principal investigators: Meng, Xiangfei; Caron, Jean; O'Donnell, Kieran

Keywords: Biobank; Childhood Adversity; Depression; Disease Course; Dna Methylation; Epigenetic Age; Longitudinal Population-Based Cohort; Polygenic Risk; Psychosocial Environment; Stress Related Mental Disorders

$1,246,135

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Frequent collaborators

Psychiatry
Neurology and Neurosurgery
Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Other

Co-authors at McGill University, colored by department. Thicker lines mean more shared papers; select anyone to open their profile and their own map.

Pedro Rosa-Neto

Neurology and Neurosurgery

1 shared papers, latest 2022

Serge Gauthier

Faculty

1 shared papers, latest 2022

John Breitner

Psychiatry

1 shared papers, latest 2022

Simon Ducharme

Faculty

1 shared papers, latest 2022

Yasser Iturria Medina

Neurology and Neurosurgery

1 shared papers, latest 2022

Yue Li

Epidemiology and Biostatistics

1 shared papers, latest 2024

Michael Meaney

Faculty

1 shared papers, latest 2024

Serge Gauthier

Neurology and Neurosurgery

1 shared papers, latest 2022

Robert Levitan

Psychiatry

1 shared papers, latest 2020

Xiangfei Meng

Psychiatry

1 shared papers, latest 2024

Jean Caron

Psychiatry

1 shared papers, latest 2024

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Subject: Prospective PhD student: Biobank Dear Professor O'Donnell, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "Sex-specific interaction effects of Syntaxin 1A coexpression network and childhood trauma on adult depressive symptoms." (2026), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]