Côté, Hélène

Hélène Côté, PhD

Dr. Côté is a Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia. She is also an Associate member of the Women’s Health Research Institute, an Investigator of the UBC Centre for Blood Research, and serves on the CANFAR Scientific Advisory Committee.

She grew up in Quebec City, did her BSc at Laval University, and her PhD at the University of British Columbia, both in Biochemistry. She did her post-doctoral training at the University of Washington before returning to the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS where she started working on HIV and antiretroviral drug toxicity. She then joined the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, supported by a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Award, and moved to the UBC campus where she has pursued her research program on mitochondrial and telomere toxicity and accelerated aging in persons living with HIV or uninfected but exposed to antiretroviral agents. She has been the lead Principal Investigator on two CIHR team grants on HIV Therapy and Aging (2007-12), and Cellular Aging and HIV comorbidities in Women and Children (2013-18) and leads the pan-Canadian Antiretrovirals and Markers of Aging (CARMA) cohort. Her laboratory investigates the intersection between living with chronic/latent viruses (e.g. HIV, cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex viruses, hepatitis B and C viruses, etc.), markers of biological aging (mtDNA content, mtDNA mutations, telomere length, immune cell function/proportion/differentiation, etc.), comorbidities, hormones (e.g. sex, stress hormones), and psycho-socio-structural determinant of health, including chronic pain.


Email: hcote@pathology.ubc.ca

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