April 2023

April 29th: Good news! Heidi has received an Undergraduate Student Summer Research Fellowship from Queen’s University to support her summer research project looking at activation of TLR4 by viral glycoproteins. Congratulations, Heidi!

April 4th: Undergraduate poster day at Queen’s! Jihyun, Heidi, Payton and Nicole presented posters on their research projects; congratulations to all four for excellent posters showcasing their hard work over the past year!

March 2023

March 2-4th: Che and Carla attended the Canadian Symposium on Hepatitis C Virus in Halifax, where Carla presented a poster on her project. Despite the snow, they enjoyed Halifax, and catching up with old friends and making new ones!

December 2022

December 15th: We had a winter holiday brunch at the exceptional Pan Chancho bakery. Happy Holidays!!

November 2022

November 2-6th: Che and Carla attended the 52^nd Mexican National Congress of Clinical Pathology (Mérida, Mexico), where they presented seminars in the Virus-Host Interactions symposium. They also enjoyed some sight-seeing and tacos!

October 2022

October 27th: We attended a virology retreat with several other Ontario virology groups, held at McMichael art collection in Toronto. A fantastic day of virology, networking and catching up with colleagues!

September 2022

Welcome to our new undergraduate student researchers! Jihyun has joined us for her MICR 499 project, while Heidi and Payton will be doing LISC 595 projects. Nicole is continuing on with her HSCI research project.

July 2022

July 28th: Emma’s paper has been accepted for publication in Scientific Reports – congrats to Emma! In this manuscript, we describe the antiviral mechanisms of EGCG, a natural product found in green tea, against coronaviruses. We celebrated with matching manuscript mugs and EGCG jewelry!

July 27th-28th: John and Maddie both successfully defended their MSc theses! Congratulations to both of them! We had several gatherings to celebrate their achievements and wish them all the best in their next steps.

July 7th: We had our (somewhat annual) lab potluck summer picnic! Lots of great food!

June 2022

June 28th: We attended the Queen’s Faculty of Health Sciences Research Trainees Day, where Isabella started things off with the first talk of the day and everyone else had poster presentations. Great to share our work with the FHS community!

June 5th-7th: We attended the 4th Canadian Symposium for Virology in Edmonton, Alberta. A fun few days packed full of virology, catching up with old friends & meeting new friends, and exploring Edmonton’s running trails (and carnival grounds…). Congrats to Emma for giving an excellent talk, and to John, Isabella, Carla, Kim and Maddie for presenting great posters!

May 2022

May 29th: Some of the more intrepid members of our lab (John, Kim, Isabella, Emma and honorary lab member Gerard) competed in the challenging Ottawa Spartan race. Way to go! Good preparation for the trials and tribulations of thesis research…?

May 24th: Emma has passed her PhD comprehensive exams and is officially our first PhD candidate!

April 2022

We have successfully wrapped up another academic year! Congrats to our undergraduate students Kim and Taylor for completing their MICR 499 projects, Nicole for completing her HSCI 592/593 project, and Celine for wrapping up her volunteer project. We will be sad to say goodbye but wish our undergraduate researchers all the best in their future endeavours!

February 2022

February 15th: We are excited that our mini-review on the roles of cyclophilin A in viral immune evasion has just been published in Frontiers in Microbiology! Check it out here! Congrats to John, Isabella and Carla – a nice team effort!

February 10th: Emma has been awarded a Trainee Progress Award from the Canadian Society for Virology. The award recognizes outstanding work by a Canadian virology trainee. Congrats Emma!

December 2021

December 15th: We are thrilled that Isabella successfully defended her Mini-Masters and has transferred to the PhD program. Congratulations, Isabella! Looking forward to more exciting science to come!

September 2021

September 23rd: We attended the Queen’s University Health Sciences Research Trainee Day, where John, Isabella and Emma presented their projects. We enjoyed our first in-person conference in a long time, and had a great time discussing science with our colleagues in the department.

September 7th: Our new undergraduate students, Taylor and Nicole, have joined us for their MICR 499 and HSCI 592 research projects. Welcome Taylor and Nicole!

September 1st: We had our first annual Colpitts Lab Retreat: A morning of science, followed by an afternoon hike at Rock Dunder to burn off a delicious curry lunch at Namaste!

July 2021

July 17th: Our review on the roles of cyclophilins in hepatitis C virus and flavivirus infections has been published! Congrats to lead author Carla! Check it out here.

July 15th: We are thrilled that Emma has received a very prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship to support her PhD studies in the lab! This is fantastic news – huge congrats to Emma! Read more here.

June 2021

June 1st: Our review on hepatitis C virus and glycans has been published! A nice team effort with the Capicciotti lab! We discuss the roles of glycans in HCV infection, and the potential for novel preventative strategies targeting glycans. Check it out here!

May 2021

We are excited to welcome two new lab members! Carla has officially started her PhD with us, and Kim has joined us for an NSERC USRA summer project. Welcome Carla and Kim!

April 2021

Good news! Carla, our incoming PhD student, has been awarded a Mitacs Globalink graduate fellowship supporting the first year of her PhD. Congratulations, Carla!

March 2021

March 22-26th: Emma and John present posters on their research at the (virtual) 34th International Conference on Antiviral Research. Well done both! Congrats to Emma for winning the 2nd place prize in the PechaKucha contest, and a runner-up poster prize!

February 2021

February 1: We are excited to finally welcome our MICR 499 project students, Caleb and Lauren, into the lab!

December 2020

December 16: We celebrated the end of 2020 with a Zoom holiday celebration/trivia night. It was a great way to wrap up the year – looking forward to more exciting and fun science in 2021!

September 2020

September 23: Dr. Colpitts was interviewed by IEEE Spectrum about antivirals and COVID-19. Check out the article.

September 21: New MSc student Isabella Delano has started in the lab. Welcome, Isabella!

September 8: The fall semester has started and our first PhD student, Emma LeBlanc, has started in the lab. Welcome, Emma!

August 2020

August 27: Our collaborative SARS-CoV-2 research with the Capicciotti lab was featured on Global News Kingston! Check out the interview:

August 18: We are grateful to have been awarded a grant from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation John R. Evans Leaders Fund to support the purchase of fancy new equipment for our research. We are excited to get started!

August 10: Our first Masters student, John Mamatis, has started in the lab! Welcome, John!

June 2020

June 16: Our paper on the role of cyclophilin A in HCV replication (which describes a new, potentially broad-spectrum, antiviral mechanism of action of cyclophilin inhibitors) has been published in eLife! Check it out here!

May 2020

May 25: Dr. Colpitts was interviewed by CBC News about antiviral strategies for COVID-19. Check out the article here.

April 2020

April 24: We have been awarded a Banting Discovery Award to evaluate membrane remodelling as an antiviral target for coronaviruses. Thank you, Banting Research Foundation, for funding this timely research.

April 23: We are happy to have been awarded an NSERC Discovery Grant to support our research for 5 years. Thank you, NSERC!

March 2020

March 18: Our review on HCV entry has been published! A collaborative effort with our colleague Mirjam Zeisel in France, and input from our very own Celine Tsai! Check it out here.

March 10: Caleb has earned an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award to support his summer research project evaluating host-targeting agents as coronavirus antivirals. Congratulations, Caleb!

November 2019