Dr. Georgiana Purdy earned her bachelor’s degrees in Microbiology and Cell Science (B.S.) and History (B.A.) from the University of Florida. She subsequently obtained her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin, working with Dr. Shelley Payne on the role of Shigella flexneri periplasmic chaperones in virulence. She performed postdoctoral training with Dr. David Russell at Cornell University studying Mycobacterium tuberculosis host-pathogen interactions.  

Purdy joined the Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU) Molecular Microbiology and Immunology (MMI) Department in 2008 and established a research program focused on M. tuberculosis. The goals of the Purdy lab are to delineate pathways in mycobacterial cell wall biogenesis and identify targets and new strategies for future drug therapy. The lab combines the approaches of bacterial genetics, biochemistry and cell biology to achieve these goals. Recent studies have characterized the substrates and regulation of mycobacterial MmpL cell wall lipid transporters, shown that MmpL11 is important for M. tuberculosis virulence and non-replicating persistence and defined the structure of the validated drug target MmpL3.  

Purdy is the Program Director for the MMI and Program in Biomedical Sciences (PBMS) graduate programs. She is on the editorial board for the Journal of Biological Chemistry and serves as an ad hoc reviewer for ASM and other journals.