Andrew Purssell, University of Ottawa

Research

Antimicrobial Resistance Biomarker C.Difficile Infection Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy Feasibility Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation Microbiome Pilot

Latest papers

Prediction of genetic relatedness of Escherichia coli using neighbor typing: a tool for rapid outbreak detection.
Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy · 2026
Rapid inference of antibiotic susceptibility phenotype of uropathogens using metagenomic sequencing with neighbor typing.
Microbiology spectrum · 2025
Pritelivir for the Treatment of Nucleoside Analogue-Resistant Orolabial Herpes Simplex Virus 2 in a Person Living with HIV.
Journal of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada = Journal officiel de l'Association pour la microbiologie medicale et l'infectiologie Canada · 2024 · first author

All 6 publications

Latest funding

Oral Vancomycin for the Prevention of C. difficile Infection in High-Risk HCT and CAR-T Patients (VAPOR-HCT): A Pilot Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial
CIHR · 2025 · Principal investigator
$100,000

All 1 grants and awards

6 publications.

01

Prediction of genetic relatedness of Escherichia coli using neighbor typing: a tool for rapid outbreak detection.

Carroll AC, Mortimer L, Ghosh H, Reuter S, Grundmann H, Brinda K, Hanage WP, Li A, Paterson A, Purssell A, Rooney AM, Yee NR, Coburn B, Able-Thomas S, Antonio M, McGeer A, MacFadden DR

Antimicrobial agents and chemotherapy2026

DOI: 10.1128/aac.01071-25 PMID: 41586495

02

Rapid inference of antibiotic susceptibility phenotype of uropathogens using metagenomic sequencing with neighbor typing.

Carroll AC, Mortimer L, Ghosh H, Reuter S, Grundmann H, Brinda K, Hanage WP, Li A, Paterson A, Purssell A, Rooney A, Yee NR, Coburn B, Able-Thomas S, Antonio M, McGeer A, MacFadden DR

Microbiology spectrum2025

DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.01366-24 PMID: 39611823

03

Pritelivir for the Treatment of Nucleoside Analogue-Resistant Orolabial Herpes Simplex Virus 2 in a Person Living with HIV.

Purssell A, Leung K, Giguère P, Angel JB

Journal of the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada = Journal officiel de l'Association pour la microbiologie medicale et l'infectiologie Canada2024First author

DOI: 10.3138/jammi-2023-0028 PMID: 40641809

04

Complexity in clinical diagnoses of acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Pratt AJ, Purssell A, Zhang T, Luks VPJ, Bauza X, Mulpuru S, Kirby M, Aaron SD, Cowan J

BMC pulmonary medicine2023

DOI: 10.1186/s12890-023-02587-1 PMID: 37580731

05

Surveillance of Amoebic Keratitis-Causing Acanthamoebae for Potential Bacterial Endosymbionts in Ontario, Canada.

Karsenti N, Purssell A, Lau R, Ralevski F, Bhasker S, Raheel H, Boggild AK

Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland)2022

DOI: 10.3390/pathogens11060661 PMID: 35745515

06

A Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Control Feasibility Trial of Immunoglobulin Treatment for Prevention of Recurrent Acute Exacerbations of COPD.

Cowan J, Mulpuru S, Abdallah SJ, Chopra A, Purssell A, McGuinty M, Alvarez GG, Giulivi A, Corrales-Medina V, MacFadden D, Boyle L, Hasimja D, Thavorn K, Mallick R, Aaron SD, Cameron DW

International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease2021

DOI: 10.2147/copd.s338849 PMID: 34887657

Oral Vancomycin for the Prevention of C. difficile Infection in High-Risk HCT and CAR-T Patients (VAPOR-HCT): A Pilot Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial

Principal investigatorCIHR2025Project Grant - Priority Announcement - Cancer Survivorship

Principal investigators: MacFadden, Derek R; Atkins, Harold L; Buchan, Catharine A; Cheng, Matthew P; Climans, Troy; Coburn, Bryan A; Daneman, Nick; Gauthier, Karine; Hay, Annette; Kabbani, Dima; Kekre, Natasha; Kennah, Michael; McIntyre, Lauralyn A; Mertz, Dominik; Monteith, Bethany E; Mortimer, Leanne M; Purssell, Andrew; Taljaard, Monica; Tsang, Corey

Keywords: Antimicrobial Resistance; Biomarker; C.Difficile Infection; Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy; Feasibility; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; Microbiome; Pilot; Prophylaxis; Randomized Trial

$100,000

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

Department of Medicine
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology
Cell and Systems Biology
Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology
Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Pediatrics
Biology
Other

1 shared papers, latest 2021

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 Purssell, 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 "Prediction of genetic relatedness of Escherichia coli using neighbor typing: a tool for rapid outbreak detection." (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 "Oral Vancomycin for the Prevention of C. difficile Infection in High-Risk HCT and CAR-T Patients (VAPOR-HCT): A Pilot Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial" (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]