2016/08 – New publication! Sekulovic O and LC Fortier. Characterization of functional prophages in Clostridium difficile. Methods Mol. Biol.
2016/05 – New publication! Allard MJ, Bergeron J, Grbic D, Fortier LC, Poyart C, and G. Sébire. A sexually dichotomous, autistic-like phenotype is induced by Group B Streptococcus maternofetal immune activation. Autism Res.
2015/12 – New publication! Allard MJ, Bergeron J, Grbic D, Fortier LC, Poyart C, and G. Sébire. Group B Streptococcus infection during gestation induces gender specific neurodevelopmental impairments. Int. J. Dev. Neurosci. Web link.
2015/12 – New publication! Bergeron J, Deslauriers J, Grignon S, Fortier LC, Lepage M, Stroh T, Poyart C, Sébire G. Exposition to group B streptococcal maternal inflammation: White matter injury and autistic-like behavior predominantly affecting male rat offspring. Int. J. Dev. Neurosci. Web link.
2015/09 – Another collaboration paper by Claire Nour Abou Chakra et al and Louis Valiquette has just been published online in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Julian Garneau from our lab has contributed to the work. Congratulations to all! The article is entitled: ” Factors associated with Complications of Clostridium difficile Infection in a Multicenter Prospective Cohort ” Clin Infect Dis. Web link.
2015/09 – A nice paper in collaboration with the group of Olga Soutourina from the Institut Pasteur in Paris has just been released in mBio. Ognjen Sekulovic and Maicol Ospina Bedoya contributed to the work. Congratulations to all the authors! The article is entitled ” Function of the CRISPR-Cas System of the Human Pathogen Clostridium difficile ” mBio. Web link.
2015/07 – The article from Sekulovic O et al titled ” The Clostridium difficile Cell Wall Protein CwpV Confers Phase-Variable Phage Resistance” has been published online in Molecular Microbiology. Web link. Congratulations Ognjen and our collaborators!
2015/07 – Welcome to François Kirouac who starts a Master degree (MD-MSc) in our lab!
2014/12 – The article from Bordeleau E, Purcell EB, Lafontaine DA, Fortier LC, Tamayo R, Burrus V titled “C-di-GMP riboswitch-regulated type IV pili contribute to aggregation of Clostridium difficile.” has been published in Journal of Bacteriology. 2014 déc 14. Congratulations to all!
2014/12 – The article from Sekulovic O et LC Fortier titled “ Global transcriptional response of Clostridium difficile carrying the phiCD38-2 prophage.” has been published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 2014 déc 14. Congratulations to all!
2014/10/01 – Congratulations to Auréliane Michaud who obtained a research scholarship from the Medical research center of the Université de Sherbrooke to pursue here MSc studies in our lab!
2014/09/15 – Our team welcomes our new MSc student from France, Auréliane Michaud.
2014/05/21 – The obtention of a major operating grant to develop a new class of antibiotics targetting the guanine riboswitch in C. difficile has been announced by the Université de Sherbrooke today. Details of the news here (in french).
2014/05/18 – Ognjen Sekulovic received the Gisela Mosig prize at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) held in Boston from May 17-20. This 500$ prize is given to the student that presented the best poster in the division M (bacteriophages) and has been selected for an oral presentation. Congratulations Oggy!
2014/05 – Louis-Charles was asked to comment the first WHO report on antibiotic resistance. The interview was done on the radio of Radio-Canada for the program “Le 15-18” on May 5 at 15h52. You can in principle listen to the interview by following this link and scrolling up to 15h52 on the time scale
2014/05 – We just got an operating team grant from the Fonds de la Recherche du Québec – Nature et Technologie, with Daniel Lafontaine from the faculty of sciences of the UdeS as a co-applicant, to study riboswitches in C. difficile.
2014/03 – Congratulations to Julian Garneau and Maicol Ospina Bedoya for winning a graduate scholarship in the last March competition! Julian got a scholarship from the clinical research center, and Maicol got the “Gérard-Eugène-Plante” scholarship.
2014/02 – Ognjen’s abstract entitled “A First Glance at Phage-Host Interactions in Clostridium difficile ” has been accepted for a poster presentation at the next ASM General Meeting in Boston.
2014/02 – Julian’s abstract entitled “Temperate phages of Clostridium difficile isolated from farm animals” has been accepted for a poster presentation at the next ASM General Meeting in Boston.
2014/02 – The manuscript by Sekulovic S, Garneau JR, Neron A, and LC Fortier entitled ” Characterization of Temperate Phages Infecting Clostridium difficile Isolates from Human and Animal Origin “ has been published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 2014 Feb 14. Good job everyone!
2014/01 – The manuscript by Garneau JR, Valiquette L and LC Fortier entitled “Prevention of Clostridium difficile spore formation by sub-inhibitory concentrations of tigecycline and piperacillin/tazobactam” has been published in BMC Infectious Diseases. 2014, 14:29. Web link Congratulations Julian!
2013/11 – The manuscript by Bergeron JD, Deslauriers J, Grignon S, Fortier LC, Lepage M, Stroh T, Poyart C and G Sébire entitled “White matter injury and autistic-like behavior predominantly affecting male rat offspring exposed to group B streptococcal maternal inflammation” has been published in Developmental Neuroscience. 2013;35:504-15. Web link Congratulations Julie!
2013/09 – Émilie St-Pierre successfully completed her M.Sc. program and now works in our lab as a research assistant.
2013/09 – After more than 2.5 years as a research assistant in our lab, Julian Garneau has decided to start his M.Sc. program with us. Best of luck Julian!
2013/07 – Ognjen Sekulovic will present his poster entitled ” A First Glance at Phage-Host Interactions in Clostridium difficile ” at the 8th International Conference on the Molecular Biology and Pathogenesis of the Clostridia (ClostPath 8, October 22-26th 2013) in Palm Cove, Australia.
2013/04 – Our review article “Fortier LC and O Sekulovic. Importance of prophages to evolution and virulence of bacterial pathogens” has been accepted for publication in the journal Virulence. Web link.
2013/02 – Our research on C. difficile phages has been the topic of a special issue in the newspaper Le Devoir on February 23.
2013/01 – Our research results published in Fall 2012 in the journal Applied and Environemental Microbiology (Meessen-Pinard et al Pubmed link) have been the subject of a news on the web site of the UdeS and of the faculty of medicine.
2012/09 – The manuscript “Gebhart D, Williams SR, Bishop-Lilly KA, Govoni G, Willner KM, Butani A, Sozhamannan S, Martin D,Fortier LC, Scholl D. Novel high molecular weight, R-type bacteriocins of Clostridium difficile.” has been accepted for publication in J. Bacteriology. Pubmed link.
2012/08 – The manuscript “Meessen-Pinard M, O Sekulovic and LC Fortier. Evidence of in vivo prophage induction during Clostridium difficile infection” has been accepted for publication in Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Congrats Mathieu and Ognjen! Pubmed link.
2012/07 – Émilie St-Pierre’s poster has been accepted for presentation at the 4th International Conference on Clostridium difficile which will be held from September 22 to 24 in Bled, Slovenia.
2012/04 – Louis-Charles Fortier obtained a Junior 2 salary award from the Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQ-S).
2012/02 – Our lab has moved into a new building on the health campus near the CHUS. Make sure to have the good coordinates by clicking on the Location tab.
2012/03 – David Lalonde Séguin (M.Sc. Biology, UdeS) joined our group as a research assistant. Welcome aboard David!
2012/01 – Marie-Pierre Dubeau (PhD Biology, UdeS) joined our group as a research assistant and Marie-Ève Pépin (undergrad student in microbiology, UdeS 2nd year) will do her COOP training in our lab this winter semester. Welcome to both of you!
2011/09 – The manuscript “S. Sirard, L. Valiquette and LC Fortier. Lack of association between clinical outcome of Clostridium difficile infections, strain type, and virulence-associated phenotypes” has been accepted for publication in Journal of Clinical Microbiology. Congrats Stéphanie!
2011/08 – We obtained a ASPIRE research grant from Pfizer Inc ASPIRE 2011 (Advancing Science through Pfizer-investigator exchange)
2011/06 – LC Fortier is now director of the graduate program of studies in microbiology at the faculty of medicine and health sciences of the UdeS.
2011/05 – The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just approved the use of Fidaxomicin (Dificid) for the treatment of C. difficileinfections. More about this news here.
2011/04 –Mulhbacher J., Brouillette E., Allard M., Moisan H., Fortier LC, Malouin F. and DA Lafontaine. Selective Inhibitors of Guanine Riboswitches as a New Class of Antibiotics. PLoS Pathogens,6(4):pp. e1000865″ has been voted the discovery of the year by the readers of the magazine Québec Science
2011/03 – Sekulovic, Meessen-Pinard M., and LC Fortier. Prophage-stimulated toxin production in Clostridium difficile NAP1/027 lysogens” has been published in Journal of Bacteriology. Congratulations to Ognjen and Mathieu!PubMed
2011/02 – Fortier LC, Malouin F. and V. Burrus. c-di-GMP turn-over in C. difficile is controlled by a plethora of diguanylate cyclases and phosphodiesterases” has been published in PLoS Genetics. Congratulations Éric!
2011/01 – Mulhbacher J., Brouillette E., Allard M., Moisan H., Fortier LC, Malouin F. and DA Lafontaine. Selective Inhibitors of Guanine Riboswitches as a New Class of Antibiotics. PLoS Pathogens,6(4):pp. e1000865″ has been selected as one of the top 10 discoveries of the year according to the magazine Québec Science
2010/12 – New publication: Gonzales M., Pépin J., Frost EH., Carrier J., ., Fortier LC, Lamarre P., and L. Valiquette. Faecal pharmacokinetics of orally administered vancomycin in patients with suspected Clostridium difficile infection. BMC Infectious Diseases, 10:363.
2010/11 –Le Code Chastenay at Télé Québec that presented the recent discovery of riboswitches and their potential to fight multidrug-resistant pathogens such as MRSA and C. difficile. I was interviewed for the report.
2010/09 – The ICDS in Bled Slovenia was a very interesting meeting and confirmed the interest for phages of C. difficile!
2010/08 – All summer trainees have now left the lab for another semester. Thanks to Audrey, Émilie and Xavier for their good work!
We have installed our new Olympus IX81 inverted fluorescence microscope. It’s cool!!
2010/07 – We have installed our new Coy Lab anaerobic chamber, increasing our working capacity under anaerobic atmosphere
Louis-Charles’ abstract has been selected for an oral presentation at the 3rd International Clostridium difficile Symposium to be held in Bled, Slovenia (September 22-24, 2010)