Trudy Grossman is Vice President of Research at Azitra Inc., a company developing microbial-based therapies aimed at treating skin disorders. Previously she was Senior Director of Biology and Pharmacology at Melinta Therapeutics in New Haven, Connecticut, where she managed a team supporting antibiotic discovery and development.

Trudy has worked in microbiology in increasing roles of seniority for over 25 years; most of that time applying the genetics, molecular biology, physiology, and biochemistry of bacteria to the discovery and development of new anti-infectives.

This includes tenures at several pharmaceutical companies including Lederle Laboratories where she discovered new genes essential for iron-transport in bacteria which could serve as novel anti-virulence targets in Gram-positive pathogens.

While working at Procept Inc, Trudy discovered a novel aspect of bacterial transcription regulation that is important in adaptation to nutrient-depleted environments. This finding was key to the development of a novel strategy for the overproduction of difficult recombinant proteins in bacteria.

At Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Trudy established a new microbiology group and managed the biology supporting antibacterial discovery programmes at various stages – also holding project leadership roles for early and late stage discovery programmes. Trudy has also worked at Ariad Pharmaceuticals and Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals.

Trudy served as co-principal investigator for a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Partnership Grant and was the technical leader for a NIAID Contract, managing pre-and non-clinical activities for the novel fluorocycline antibiotic, TP-271.

Her experience also includes authoring microbiology and pharmacology sections for several Investigational New Drug Application (IND) filings and substantial contributions to the regulatory filings for eravacycline.

Trudy has written over 50 peer-reviewed publications, served on a variety of NIH study sections including Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Anti-infective Special Emphasis Panels, and is a co-inventor of seven patents.

She currently serves as a section editor for the Journal of Global Antimicrobial Resistance and is a frequent ad-hoc reviewer for numerous journals and ASM conference submissions.

Trudy gained her BSc from the State University of New York in Albany and her PhD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York.