diff --git a/lib/lcdbwf/R/helpers.R b/lib/lcdbwf/R/helpers.R
index c57db9d07..1daebae59 100644
--- a/lib/lcdbwf/R/helpers.R
+++ b/lib/lcdbwf/R/helpers.R
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ library(heatmaply)
 library(readr)
 library(stringr)
 library(tibble)
+library(limma)
 library(purrr)
 library(tidyr)
 
@@ -893,3 +894,36 @@ write.clusterprofiler.results <- function(res, cprof.folder, label){
     return(list(orig=filename.orig, split=filename.split))
 }
 
+
+#' Remove batch effect
+#'
+#' based on the [removeBatchEffect](rdrr.io/bio/limma/src/R/removeBatchEffect.R) function from limma (Gordan Smyth et al.)
+#' @param x Numeric matrix containing log-expression values for a series of samples
+#' @param batches Vector of batch factors/vectors
+#' @param covariates Matrix or vector of numeric covariates to be adjusted for
+#' @param design Design matrix relating to treatment conditions to be preserved, usually the design matrix with all experimental factors other than the batch effects
+#' @param ... Other arguments are passed to lmFit
+removebatchEffect <-
+function(x, batches=c(), covariates=NULL, design=matrix(1,ncol(x),1),...)
+{
+    if(length(batches) == 0 & is.null(covariates)){
+        return(as.matrix(x))
+    }
+    batches_processed <- c()
+    if(length(batches) != 0){
+        for(batch in batches){
+            batch <- as.factor(batch)
+            contrasts(batch) <- contr.sum(levels(batch))
+            batch <- model.matrix(~batch)[,-1,drop=FALSE]
+            batches_processed <- rbind(batches_processed, batch)
+        }
+    }
+    if(!is.null(covariates)) {
+        covariates <- as.matrix(covariates)
+    }
+    X.batch <- cbind(batches_processed, covariates)
+    fit <- lmFit(x, cbind(design, X.batch),...)
+    beta <- fit$coefficients[,-(1:ncol(design)),drop=FALSE]
+    beta[is.na(beta)] <- 0
+    as.matrix(x) - beta %*% t(X.batch)
+}
diff --git a/workflows/rnaseq/downstream/helpers.Rmd b/workflows/rnaseq/downstream/helpers.Rmd
index e811fe971..e997ca3df 100644
--- a/workflows/rnaseq/downstream/helpers.Rmd
+++ b/workflows/rnaseq/downstream/helpers.Rmd
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ library(heatmaply)
 library(readr)
 library(stringr)
 library(tibble)
+library(limma)
 library(purrr)
 library(tidyr)
 
@@ -868,4 +869,38 @@ write.clusterprofiler.results <- function(res, cprof.folder, label){
     write.table(res.split, file=filename.split, sep='\t', quote=FALSE, row.names=FALSE)
     return(list(orig=filename.orig, split=filename.split))
 }
+
+
+#' Remove batch effect
+#'
+#' based on the [removeBatchEffect](rdrr.io/bio/limma/src/R/removeBatchEffect.R) function from limma (Gordan Smyth et al.)
+#' @param x Numeric matrix containing log-expression values for a series of samples
+#' @param batches Vector of batch factors/vectors
+#' @param covariates Matrix or vector of numeric covariates to be adjusted for
+#' @param design Design matrix relating to treatment conditions to be preserved, usually the design matrix with all experimental factors other than the batch effects
+#' @param ... Other arguments are passed to lmFit
+removebatchEffect <-
+function(x, batches=c(), covariates=NULL, design=matrix(1,ncol(x),1),...)
+{
+    if(length(batches) == 0 & is.null(covariates)){
+        return(as.matrix(x))
+    }
+    batches_processed <- c()
+    if(length(batches) != 0){
+        for(batch in batches){
+            batch <- as.factor(batch)
+            contrasts(batch) <- contr.sum(levels(batch))
+            batch <- model.matrix(~batch)[,-1,drop=FALSE]
+            batches_processed <- rbind(batches_processed, batch)
+        }
+    }
+    if(!is.null(covariates)) {
+        covariates <- as.matrix(covariates)
+    }
+    X.batch <- cbind(batches_processed, covariates)
+    fit <- lmFit(x, cbind(design, X.batch),...)
+    beta <- fit$coefficients[,-(1:ncol(design)),drop=FALSE]
+    beta[is.na(beta)] <- 0
+    as.matrix(x) - beta %*% t(X.batch)
+}
 ```
diff --git a/workflows/rnaseq/downstream/test_batch_effects.Rmd b/workflows/rnaseq/downstream/test_batch_effects.Rmd
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..820e5676b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/workflows/rnaseq/downstream/test_batch_effects.Rmd
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# Test removebatchEffects function
+
+1. Install `airway` package, which has counts data for an experiment described
+   at
+   http://bioconductor.org/packages/release/data/experiment/html/airway.html:
+
+```{r}
+if (!requireNamespace("BiocManager", quietly = TRUE))
+    install.packages("BiocManager")
+BiocManager::install("airway")
+```
+
+2. Load data, show colData
+
+```{r}
+library(airway)
+library(DESeq2)
+data(airway)
+knitr::kable(colData(airway))
+```
+
+
+3. dds object; run vst; plot PCA:
+
+```{r}
+dds <- DESeqDataSet(airway, design = ~ cell + dex)
+rld <- vst(dds, blind=TRUE)
+plotPCA(rld, 'cell')
+```
+
+4. Load helpers
+
+```{r child='helpers.Rmd', include=FALSE}
+rmarkdown::render('helpers.Rmd', run_pandoc=FALSE)
+```
+
+
+5. Attempted usage here...imagine we want to remove the effect of cell type:
+
+```{r}
+coldata <- colData(rld)
+no.cell <- removebatchEffect(assay(rld), batches=list(coldata$cell), design=model.matrix(~dex, data=coldata))
+rld.nocell <- rld
+assay(rld.nocell) <- no.cell
+plotPCA(rld.nocell, 'cell')
+```