John Purdy, PhD
Cancer Biology Program
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Assistant Professor, Immunobiology
Biography
John Purdy earned an undergraduate degree from Pacific University and a Ph.D. from Penn State University College of Medicine. He performed his graduate studies in the biochemistry of assembly retroviral capsid in the laboratory of Drs. Rebecca Craven and John Flanagan. Afterwards he trained in metabolomics at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University while working in the laboratories of Drs. Joshua Rabinowitz and Thomas Shenk. He has been a member of the UArizona faculty since October 2015.
Cancer Focus
Viruses, including herpesviruses, cause a significant number of cancers. Metabolism plays an essential in both cancer and virus pathogenesis. The Purdy laboratory studies virus-host metabolism interactions with a focus on the human herpesvirus cytomegalovirus (CMV). CMV causes life-threatening disease in patients undergoing treatment for cancer, including leukemia and lymphoma transplant recipients. Our goal is to discover new understanding of the molecular underpinnings of virus replication and human metabolism that can lead to novel avenues of reducing cancer-related disease.
Selected Publications
L. M. Wise, Xi, Y., and Purdy, J. G., “Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1α (HIF1α) Suppresses Virus Replication in Human Cytomegalovirus Infection by Limiting Kynurenine Synthesis.”, mBio, vol. 12, no. 2, 2021. PMCID: PMC8092273 PMID: 33758082
Y. Xi, Lindenmayer, L., Kline, I., von Einem, J., and Purdy, J. G., “Human Cytomegalovirus Uses a Host Stress Response To Balance the Elongation of Saturated/Monounsaturated and Polyunsaturated Very-Long-Chain Fatty Acids.”, mBio, vol. 12, no. 3, 2021. PMCID: PMC8262922 PMID: 33947752
D. L. Turner, Korneev, D. V., Purdy, J. G., de Marco, A., and Mathias, R. A., “The host exosome pathway underpins biogenesis of the human cytomegalovirus virion.”, Elife, vol. 9, 2020. PMCID: PMC7556872 PMID: 32910773
J. G. Purdy and Luftig, M. A., “Reprogramming of cellular metabolic pathways by human oncogenic viruses.”, Curr Opin Virol, vol. 39, pp. 60-69, 2019. PMCID: PMC6986357 PMID: 31766001
Y. Xi, Harwood, S., Wise, L. M., and Purdy, J. G., “Human Cytomegalovirus pUL37x1 Is Important for Remodeling of Host Lipid Metabolism.”, J Virol, vol. 93, no. 21, 2019. PMCID: PMC6803270 PMID: 31391267