Dr Kathryn Crouch
- Lecturer in Bioinformatics (Parasitology)
telephone:
0141 330 3746
email:
Kathryn.Crouch@glasgow.ac.uk
Room B3:25, Sgdb, 120, University Place, Glasgow, G12 8TA
Biography
After finishing a PhD in Immunology at the Institute for Animal Health in 2006, I worked for four years in the pharmaceutical industry. While working on a project at Pfizer, I had the opportunity to sequence the transcriptomes of immune tissues from novel elasmobranch species (sharks) using next generation sequencing. This experience motivated me to learn more about bioinformatics, so I undertook an MSc in Bioinformatics at the University of Edinburgh.
After graduating with a distinction, I took a role as a Bioinformatician and Software Developer at the University of Glasgow. Part of this role was to provide a bioinformatics service to labs in the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Parasitology (WCIP), a position that has given me the opportunity to explore the application of computational methods to a variety of topics of importance to the parasitology community including understanding drug resistance, identifying drug targets, and exploring genome stability. As well as consolidating and extending my skills as a bioinformatician, this role has motivated me to learn more about the fascinating world of protozoan parasites.
The other part of this role was as a software developer for VEuPathDB, a genomics database for protozoan parasites, fungi and arthropod vectors. In this role, I have developed strong software development skills, but more importantly a driving interest in the provision of public resources for the research community. This was motivating by witnessing the impact that access to resources such as VEuPathDB can have, particularly on under-resourced research groups.
My vision is to use my novel combination of skills and interests to create resources enabling fair and equitable global access to public data for the purposes of data mining and hypothesis generation.
Since 2022, I have held a position as a Lecturer in Bioinformatics at the University of Glasgow, where I teach bioinformatics at undergraduate and MSc level, and retain an active role in VEuPathDB.
Research interests
My vision is to use my unique combination of software development skills and biology to create resources enabling fair and equitable global access to public data for the purposes of data mining and hypothesis generation.
Public Resources
VEuPathDB is a resource providing extensive tools for mining genome and functional genomic data for protozoan parasites, pathogenic fungi and arthropod disease vectors
MicrobiomeDB is a resource providing tools for access to and analysis of amplicon and whole-genome metagenomic data. In collaboration with Nephele, we enable users to upload their own data for analysis with our tools
Companion is a web resource enabling users to annotate a genome assembly using a high-quality reference as a template
4273pi is a resource providing free bioinformatics workshops and teacher CPD events to schools in Scotland, linked to the SQA curriculum
Grants
Grants and Awards listed are those received whilst working with the University of Glasgow.
- Wellcome TriTrypDB grant
Wellcome Trust
2020 - 2024
Teaching
At University of Glasgow
- Programme Director of the MSc/PgDIP/PgCert Bioinformatics programme
- Course Coordinator Biological Computing in Python
- Course Coordinator Programming and Databases
- Lecturer Pathogen Polyomics
- Lecturer Omic Technologies for the Biomedical Sciences
- Deputy Course Coordinator Introducton to Next Generation Sequencing
- PGT Convenor for the School of Infection and Immunity
Elsewhere
- Middle East Biology of Parasitism 2020
- MBL Biology of Parasitism annually since 2021
- SII Bioinformatics Summerschool annually since 2018
- Wellcome Genome Campus Advanced Courses Working with Parasite Database Resources 2014 -2021
- Wellcome Genome Campus Advanced Courses Fungal Genomics annually since 2021
- NGS data analysis workshops at Fiocruz and Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro 2014 and 2015