Georgina Cox, University of Guelph

Research

Antimicrobial Resistance Drug Discovery Microbiology Drug Development Infection And Immunity Knowledge Translation Bacteria Cell Envelope

Latest papers

An anti-adhesive compound modulating the production of Staphylococcus aureus cell wall-anchored proteins.
Nature communications · 2026 · senior author
Genetic Tools and Approaches to Study Bacterial Efflux Pumps.
Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2026 · senior author
The Staphylococcus aureus esterase FmtA is essential for wall teichoic acid D-alanylation.
mBio · 2025 · senior author

All 15 publications

Latest funding

The 2026 New Antibacterial Discovery and Development Gordon Research Conference: A Catalyst for Translational Research
CIHR · 2025 · Nominated PI
$20,000
Investigating the Escherichia coli efflux network and cell envelope to advance next-generation antimicrobial development
CIHR · 2024 · Nominated PI
$1,036,575
Supporting Early Career Researcher and Trainee Networks at the Gordon Research Conference on Antibiotic Discovery and Development
CIHR · 2023 · Co-investigator
$20,000

All 11 grants and awards

15 publications.

01

An anti-adhesive compound modulating the production of Staphylococcus aureus cell wall-anchored proteins.

Leonard AC, Bao R, Menjivar C, Myers MJ, Paiva TO, Zheng Z, Berry KA, Bayles KW, Flannagan RS, Dufrêne YF, Bose JL, Heinrichs DE, Cox G

Nature communications2026Senior author

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-026-71917-8 PMID: 41986312

02

Genetic Tools and Approaches to Study Bacterial Efflux Pumps.

Caswell MR, Wright M, Cox G

Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)2026Senior author

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-5316-6_12 PMID: 42681253

03

The Staphylococcus aureus esterase FmtA is essential for wall teichoic acid D-alanylation.

Berry KA, Verhoef MTA, Zheng Z, Flannagan RS, Paiva TO, Gilbert SE, Al-Abdul-Wahid MS, Heinrichs DE, Dufrêne YF, Cox G

mBio2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1128/mbio.02337-25 PMID: 40937855

04

A historical perspective on the multifunctional outer membrane channel protein TolC in Escherichia coli.

Wright M, Kaur M, Thompson LK, Cox G

npj antimicrobials and resistance2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1038/s44259-025-00078-3 PMID: 39863731

05

Methods for investigating functional interplay between efflux pumps in Escherichia coli.

Wright M, Caswell MR, Cox G

Methods in enzymology2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1016/bs.mie.2025.10.003 PMID: 41309183

06

The inactivation of tolC sensitizes Escherichia coli to perturbations in lipopolysaccharide transport

Zhu S, Alexander MK, Paiva TO, Rachwalski K, Miu A, Xu Y, Verma V, Reichelt M, Dufrêne YF, Brown ED

iScience202417 citationsSenior author

DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109592

07

Autolysin-mediated peptidoglycan hydrolysis is required for the surface display of Staphylococcus aureus cell wall-anchored proteins.

Leonard AC, Goncheva MI, Gilbert SE, Shareefdeen H, Petrie LE, Thompson LK, Khursigara CM, Heinrichs DE, Cox G

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2023Senior author

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2301414120 PMID: 36920922

08

A genetic platform to investigate the functions of bacterial drug efflux pumps

Teelucksingh T, Thompson LK, Zhu S, Kuehfuss NM, Goetz JA, Gilbert SE, MacNair CR, Geddes-McAlister J, Brown ED, Cox G

Nature Chemical Biology202247 citationsSenior author

DOI: 10.1038/s41589-022-01119-y

09

Exploring functional interplay amongst Escherichia coli efflux pumps.

Goetz JA, Kuehfuss NM, Botschner AJ, Zhu S, Thompson LK, Cox G

Microbiology (Reading, England)2022Senior author

DOI: 10.1099/mic.0.001261 PMID: 36318669

10

Staphylococcus aureus adhesion to the host.

Berry KA, Verhoef MTA, Leonard AC, Cox G

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences2022Senior author

DOI: 10.1111/nyas.14807 PMID: 35705378

The 2026 New Antibacterial Discovery and Development Gordon Research Conference: A Catalyst for Translational Research

Nominated PICIHR2025Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Principal investigators: Cox, Georgina

Keywords: Antimicrobial Resistance; Drug Development; Drug Discovery; Infection And Immunity; Knowledge Translation; Microbiology

$20,000

Investigating the Escherichia coli efflux network and cell envelope to advance next-generation antimicrobial development

Nominated PICIHR2024Project Grant

Principal investigators: Cox, Georgina

Keywords: Antimicrobial Resistance; Bacteria; Cell Envelope; Drug Discovery; Efflux; Gram-Negative; Microbiology; Outer Membrane

$1,036,575

Supporting Early Career Researcher and Trainee Networks at the Gordon Research Conference on Antibiotic Discovery and Development

Co-investigatorCIHR2023Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Principal investigators: Cardona, Silvia T

Keywords: Antibiotic Development; Antibiotic Discovery; Antibiotic Resistance; Early Career Researchers; Knowledge Translation; Research Trainees

$20,000

Antimicrobial Resistance

Principal investigatorNSERC2022Canada Research Chairs

Principal investigators: Cox, Georgina

Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance; Efflux; Virulence; Escherichia coli; Staphylococcus aureus

$120,000

Confocal imaging plate reader for advanced cell biology applications

Co-investigatorNSERC2022Research Tools and Instruments

Principal investigators: Khursigara, Cezar

$150,000

Genetic and chemical perturbations of Staphylococcus aureus adhesion to the host epithelium

SupervisorCIHR2021Doctoral Research Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

Principal investigators: Leonard, Allison

Keywords: Adhesion; Anti-Adhesives; Antibiotic Resistance; Drug Discovery; Mrsa; Staphylococcus Aureus; Virulence

$105,000

Cutting-edge robotics for microbial high-throughput applications

Principal investigatorNSERC2021Research Tools and Instruments

Principal investigators: Cox, Georgina

$148,393

Staphylococcus aureus host cell adhesion: new insights into the surface presentation and stability of cell wall-anchored adhesins

Nominated PICIHR2020Project Grant

Principal investigators: Cox, Georgina

Keywords: Adhesion; Anti-Infectives; Antibiotic Resistance; Antibiotics; Staphylococcus Aureus; Virulence

$642,600

Investigating the contextual essentiality of the Escherichia coli efflux system

Principal investigatorNSERC2019Discovery Launch Supplement

Principal investigators: Cox, Georgina

$12,500

Investigating the contextual essentiality of the Escherichia coli efflux system

Principal investigatorNSERC2019Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Principal investigators: Cox, Georgina

$222,000

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Frequent collaborators

Molecular and Cellular Biology
Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences

Co-authors at University of Guelph, colored by department. Thicker lines mean more shared papers; select anyone to open their profile and their own map.

Eric Brown

Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences

2 shared papers, latest 2024

Jennifer Geddes-McAlister

Molecular and Cellular Biology

1 shared papers, latest 2022

Gerard Wright

Biochemistry & Biomedical Sciences

1 shared papers, latest 2020

Write to this professor

A short, specific email works best. This draft uses one of their recent papers; replace the parts in brackets with your own details before sending.

Applying for

Paper to mentionMention their CIHR grant from 2025

Subject: Prospective PhD student: Antimicrobial Resistance Dear Professor Cox, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "An anti-adhesive compound modulating the production of Staphylococcus aureus cell wall-anchored proteins." (2026), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your CIHR-funded project "The 2026 New Antibacterial Discovery and Development Gordon Research Conference: A Catalyst for Translational Research" (2025), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]