Dr Leighton Pritchard
Senior Lecturer
Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences
Personal statement
Please visit our group website: https://sipbs-compbiol.github.io/
Our group specialises in computational biology and bioinformatics, particularly for microbial genomics, but also in humans and plants. We have interests in taxonomy and classification of microbes, and the relationships between genome evolution and the different capabilities of organisms. We aim to understand links between genome and phenotype, such as the ability to produce - or resist - antibiotics, to produce enzymes and other products of biotechological value, the responses of human and plant cells to disease and infection, and the ways in which microbial pathogens interact with and control their hosts.
We study these areas using a range of techniques including phylogenetics and phylogenomics, comparative genomics and pangenomics, and mathematical and structural modelling.
You can follow the group (@SCompBiol), or me personally (@widdowquinn) on Twitter.
Publications
- 'What's in a name? Fit-for-purpose bacterial nomenclature' : meeting report
- Patrick Sheila, Filkins Laura, Goker Markus, Holden Nicola, Hoskisson Paul A, Kiepas Angelika, Meehan Conor, Pallen Mark, Pritchard Leighton, Suchanek Amanda L, Sutcliffe Iain, Trujillo Martha E, Tucker Nicholas, Turnbull Jake D, Butler-Wu Susan
- International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology Vol 75 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.006844
- Carbohydrate active enzymes in Pectobacteriaceae : coevolving enzyme sets and host adaptation
- Hobbs Emma, Gloster Tracey, Pritchard Leighton
- ISMB/ECCB 2025 (2025)
- Oxidative stress tolerance in the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae
- Harper Chloe, Piat Julianna, Sanguankiattichai Nattapong, Pritchard Leighton, Uphoff Stephan, Preston Gail
- 2025 IS-MPMI Congress (2025)
- Objective benchmarking and recommendations for Overall Genome Relatedness Index (OGRI) methods
- Pritchard Leighton
- ISMB/ECCB 2025 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.29554013
- pyANI-plus
- Pritchard Leighton, Cock Peter, Kiepas Angelika
- (2025)
- The prevalence of Phytophthora in British plant nurseries : high-risk hosts and substrates and opportunities to influence practice
- Green Sarah, Cooke David EL, Barwell Louise, Purse Bethan V, Cock Peter, Frederickson-Matika Debra, Randall Eva, Keillor Beatrix, Pritchard Leighton, Thorpe Peter, Pettit Tim, Schlenzig Alexandra, Barbrook Jane
- Plant Pathology (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1111/ppa.14044
Professional Activities
- pyANI-plus: whole genome classification of microbes with Average Nucleotide Identity (ANI) and similar methods
- Contributor
- 21/7/2025
- R For Reproducible Scientific Analysis "Carpentries" workshop
- Organiser
- 16/6/2025
- Journal of Open Source Software (Journal)
- Peer reviewer
- 12/5/2025
- PhD Committee - Virginia Tech
- Examiner
- 31/1/2025
- Access Microbiology (Journal)
- Peer reviewer
- 22/8/2024
- Family disagreements: what do conflicts between whole-genome, core gene, MLST and 16S classifications tell us about Streptomyces?
- Contributor
- 18/4/2023
Projects
- BBSRC-NSF/BIO: Collaborative Proposal: genomeRxiv: a microbial whole-genome database and diagnostic marker design resource for classification, identification, and data sharing
- Pritchard, Leighton (Principal Investigator)
- 08-Jan-2021 - 28-Jan-2025
- Targeted Innovation in the UK Seed Potato Industry to Improve Productivity and Quality
- Pritchard, Leighton (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2019 - 31-Jan-2021
Contact
Dr
Leighton
Pritchard
Senior Lecturer
Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences
Email: leighton.pritchard@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 4962