eNA Discovery Hub

A Living Lab for Environmental Genomics, Biodiversity Monitoring & Ecosystem Health

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What is the eNA Discovery Hub?

The eNA Discovery Hub is a CFI-funded, multi-user facility at McGill University dedicated to advancing environmental nucleic acid (eNA) approaches—including environmental DNA (eDNA) and environmental RNA (eRNA)—for biodiversity monitoring and ecosystem health assessment.
Environmental nucleic acids are DNA and RNA that organisms shed into their environment (for example, into water, soil, sediment, or air). These molecules can be analysed to detect species presence and biological responses without directly sampling organisms.
The Hub brings together contamination-controlled laboratory infrastructure, high-sensitivity molecular instrumentation, and bioinformatics capacity to support research, training, and applied environmental monitoring across freshwater, marine, terrestrial, and paleo-environmental systems.
Although physically based at McGill University, the Hub operates as a national platform with international collaborations, serving academic, government, NGO, and industry partners across Canada and beyond.

Organization of the eNA Discovery Hub: an integrated Living Lab for environmental nucleic acid research. The eNA Discovery Hub integrates clean field sampling, specialized molecular laboratories, dedicated sequencing facilities, advanced bioinformatics, and collaborative training into a single infrastructure for environmental nucleic acid (eNA) science. Samples originating from diverse research programs and environmental monitoring initiatives enter a standardized, contamination-controlled workflow, beginning with clean field collection and preservation and continuing through three independent laboratory streams dedicated to multipurpose, eDNA, and eRNA applications. Each stream comprises physically separated pre-PCR and post-PCR workstations equipped with dedicated instrumentation and connected by strict unidirectional sample movement to ensure sample integrity and analytical reproducibility. Sequencing is performed in the dedicated clean facility at the McGill Genome Centre, followed by computational analyses using specialized bioinformatics workstations and high-performance computing resources. Together, these integrated components provide a seamless platform for biodiversity monitoring, ecosystem health assessment, technology innovation, and collaborative research, while serving as a Living Lab for training the next generation of environmental genomic scientists across the complete continuum from field sampling to computational discovery and knowledge mobilization.

Why environmental nucleic acids (eNA)?

Environmental nucleic acids offer a powerful complement to traditional biomonitoring methods, which are often invasive, labour-intensive, and difficult to scale.

Using eDNA, monitoring programs can detect species (or entire communities) from a single environmental sample. This enables non-invasive biodiversity surveys and early detection of invasive or rare species.
Using eRNA, researchers can also capture information about how organisms are responding to environmental conditions such as temperature change, nutrient imbalance, or pollution.

In practice, eNA approaches support:

Non-invasive biodiversity detection
Early warning of invasive or rare species
Community-level monitoring from minimal sampling
Indicators of physiological and ecological stress

Together, eDNA and eRNA allow monitoring efforts to move beyond species lists toward more integrated assessments of biodiversity and ecosystem health.