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Dr Silvia Gratz

Dr Silvia Gratz
Dr Silvia Gratz
Dr Silvia Gratz

Senior Research Fellow

Accepting PhDs

About
Email Address
s.gratz@abdn.ac.uk
Telephone Number
+44 (0)1224 438675
School/Department
School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition

Biography

I have obtained my MSc in Human Nutrition from the University of Vienna, Austria (2002) and my PhD in Food Toxicology from the University of Kuopio, Finland (2007). I have joined the Rowett Institute as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow and am now a Principal Investigator in the Gut Health group.

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships

Co-lead of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity Team (Rowett Institute)

Member of the Athena Swan Self-Assessment Team (School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition)

Member of the Human Studies Ethics Review Panel (Rowett Institute)

Member of the Organising Committee of the International Gut Microbiology Symposium series

External Memberships

Member of the FSA Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (since 2022)

Editorial board member Frontiers in Predictive Toxicity (since 2010)

Research

Research Overview

Impact of diet on intestinal metabolism and gut toxicity

There is strong evidence that our diet influences the healthy function of our intestinal tract. Besides the healthy nutrients, some toxins and carcinogens may also be present in the food we eat and additional toxic compounds can be formed or released by intestinal microbiota.

In my research group we study mycotoxins, which are toxins produced by some specific moulds growing on agricultural crops. We assess the levels of mycotoxins in foods and human exposure to these dietary toxins.

Furthermore we look at how carcinogenic compounds are formed in the gut following high consumption of red meat, and how dietary fibre and Vitamin C can prevent their formation.

This work directly benefits consumers by providing evidence on healthy and safe diets. Read more here

Research Areas

Accepting PhDs

I am currently accepting PhDs in Nutrition and Health, Biomedical Sciences.

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.

Email Me

Nutrition and Health

Accepting PhDs
View Research Area

Biomedical Sciences

Accepting PhDs
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Current Research

My research investigates the role of the gut microbiota and microbial metabolites derived from dietary components on the health and function of the intestinal epithelium.

In one project we study the role of gut microbiota in the degradation of masked mycotoxins and the detoxification of mycotoxins. This activity of microbiota is important as it releases additional bound mycotoxins into the large intestine. Furthermore we assess human exposure to mycotoxins to estimate the level of potential risk for consumers. For this work we use urinary mycotoxin excretion as biomarker in humans and also analyse cereal foods and raw materials for potential contamination.

Another project assesses the effect of diet composition on microbial metabolites derived from carbohydrate and protein metabolism (e.g. butyrate, ammonia, nitrosamines) and their effects on the intestine. In human intervention studies our volunteers consume diets with different levels of carbohydrate, protein and meat and we measure microbial metabolites in human faecal samples.

Research Team

Ms Margaret-Jane Gordon – Research Assistant

Mr Edward Devlin – PhD student

Ms Nikoleta Boteva – Post-doctoral researcher

Funding and Grants

  • Scottish Government RESAS funded programme (2022-2027): Evaluation & mitigation of mycotoxin contamination across the Scottish cereal supply chain to assess human exposure & inform risk analysis. Gratz (PI).

  • Probi AB funded research project (2021-2024): Investigating new candidate probiotic strains. Scott & Gratz (Co-I).

  • NC3Rs funded PhD studentship grant (2019-2023): Modelling Candida albicans infection of the human gut using human intestinal organoid cultures. Gratz (PI), MacCallum, Munro.

  • TENOVUS funded research grant (2018-2021): Application of human intestinal organoids to study food-derived risk factors for inflammatory bowel disease. Gratz (PI).

  • MRC funded research grant (2019-2020): Mycotoxin exposure, intestinal inflammation and childhood stunting in India. Gratz (PI), Kyle, Poobalan, DeRoos.

  • Interface Multiparty funded research grant (2019-2020): Investigating the risk of mycotoxin contamination as an emerging issue for Scottish oat production. Gratz (PI).

  • Probi AB funded research project (2017-2020): Isolation of gut bacteria. Scott & Gratz (Co-I).

  • Scottish Government themed programme (2016–2022): Chemical contaminants in the food chain, human exposure & intestinal toxicity. Gratz (PI).

  • Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance funded Early career X-change grant (2016). Molecular mechanisms of mycotoxin toxicity towards intestinal cell systems. Gratz (PI). 

  • DEFRA Food Standards Agency funded research grant (2014-2015): Evaluation of masked mycotoxins in foods and their release and uptake in the gut. Gratz (Co-I). Joint with FERA ltd, York, UK.

  • Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board funded PhD studentship grant (2013-2016): Application of association mapping and genomic sequencing to starch and GI in potato. Joint with The James Hutton Institute, Dundee, UK.

  • EU FP7 collaborative project SATIN - Satiety Innovation (2012–2016).

  • Scottish Government themed programme (2011–2016).

Teaching

Teaching Responsibilities

Course coordinator for MSc courses

  • Clinical Nutrition, 2018-present
  • Foundations of Human Nutrition, 2016-2018

Lecturing in several courses within the MSc Programme Human Nutrition

Tutor in Research Skills for Medical Sciences (BSc)

Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Publications

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  • Butyrate-producing bacteria as probiotic supplement: beneficial effects on metabolism and modulation of behaviour in an obesity mouse model

    Garcia-Serrano, A., Skoug, C., Axling, U., Korhonen, E., Teixeira, C., Ahrén, I., Mukhopadhya, I., Boteva, N., Martin, J., Scott, K., Gratz, S., Stenkula, K., Holm, C., Duarte, J.
    Beneficial Microbes, pp. 1-16
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Frequent Dietary Multi-Mycotoxin Exposure in UK Children and Its Association with Dietary Intake

    Cantlay, L., Charusalaipong, P., Gordon, M., de Souza, N., Horgan, G. W., Bates, R. L., Gratz, S.
    Toxins, vol. 16, no. 6, 251
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Butyrate-producing bacteria as probiotic supplement: beneficial effects on metabolism and modulation of behavior in an obesity mouse model

    Garcia-Serrano, A. M., Skoug, C., Axling, U., Korhonen, E. R., Teixeira, C., Ahrén, I. L., Mukhopadhya, I., Boteva, N., Martin, J., Scott, K., Gratz, S., Stenkula, K. G., Holm, C., Duarte, J. M.
    Working Papers: Preprint Papers

  • Free and Modified Mycotoxins in Organic and Conventional Oats (Avena sativa L.) Grown in Scotland

    Daud, N., Currie, V., Duncan, G., Filipe, J. A. N., Yoshinari, T., Stoddart, G., Roberts, D., Gratz, S. W.
    Toxins, vol. 15, no. 4, 247
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Comparison of microbial signatures between paired faecal and rectal biopsy samples from healthy volunteers using next-generation sequencing and culturomics

    Mukhopadhya, I., Martin, J. C., Shaw, S., McKinley, A. J., Gratz, S. W., Scott, K. P.
    Microbiome, vol. 10, no. 1, 171
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Higher total faecal short-chain fatty acid concentrations correlate with increasing proportions of butyrate and decreasing proportions of branched-chain fatty acids across multiple human studies

    Scott, K., LaBouyer, M., Holtrop, G., Horgan, G., Gratz, S., Belenguer, A., Smith, N., Walker, A., Duncan, S., Johnstone, A., Louis, P., Flint, H. J.
    Gut Microbiome, vol. 3, e2
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Microbiota release of bound mycotoxins contributes to human exposure: in vitro and in vivo evidence

    Daud, N., Watt, O., Currie, V., Duncan, G., Russell, W., Gratz, S.
    Toxicology Letters, vol. 350, no. S, pp. S230-231
    Contributions to Journals: Abstracts

  • Gut microbiota metabolise food-derived mycotoxins

    Daud, N., Currie, V. J., Duncan, G., Gratz, S. W.
    Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, vol. 80, no. OCE2, 57
    Contributions to Journals: Abstracts

  • Prevalent Human Gut Bacteria Hydrolyse and Metabolise Important Food-Derived Mycotoxins and Masked Mycotoxins

    Daud, N., Currie, V., Duncan, G., Farquharson, F., Yoshinari, T., Louis, P., Gratz, S.
    Toxins, vol. 12, no. 10, 654
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Nondigestible Carbohydrates Affect Metabolic Health and Gut Microbiota in Overweight Adults after Weight Loss

    Johnstone, A. M., Kelly, J., Ryan, S., Romero-Gonzalez, R., McKinnon, H., Fyfe, C., Naslund, E., Lopez-Nicolas, R., Bosscher, D., Bonnema, A., Frontela-Saseta, C., Ros-Berruezo, G., Horgan, G., Ze, X., Harrold, J., Halford, J., Gratz, S. W., Duncan, S. H., Shirazi-Beechey, S., Flint, H. J.
    The Journal of Nutrition, vol. 150, no. 7, pp. 1859-1870
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Comparison of meat versus soya based high-protein diets on faecal microbiota and microbial metabolites

    Gratz, S. W., Scobbie, L., Richardson, A. J., Zhang, X., Fyfe, C., Farquharson, F. M., Duncan, G., Filipe, J., Zhu, W. Y., Johnstone, A. M., Louis, P., Russell, W. R.
    Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, vol. 79, no. OCE3
    Contributions to Journals: Abstracts

  • Intestinal hydrolysis and microbial biotransformation of diacetoxyscirpenol-α-glucoside, HT-2-β-glucoside and N-(1-deoxy-d-fructos-1-yl) fumonisin B1 by human gut microbiota in vitro

    Daud, N., Currie, V., Duncan, G., Busman, M., Gratz, S. W.
    International Journal of Food Sciences and Nutrition, vol. 71, no. 5, pp. 540-548
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Multi-mycotoxin exposure assessment in UK children using urinary biomarkers - a pilot survey

    Gratz, S. W., Currie, V., Duncan, G., Jackson, D.
    Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, vol. 68, no. 1, pp. 351-357
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Genoprotective Effects of Essential Oil Compounds Against Oxidative and Methylated DNA Damage in Human Colon Cancer Cells

    Thapa, D., Richardson, A. J., Zweifel, B., Wallace, R. J., Gratz, S. W.
    Journal of Food Science, vol. 84, no. 7, pp. 1979-1985
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Dietary carbohydrate rather than protein intake drives colonic microbial fermentation during weight loss

    Gratz, S. W., Hazim, S., Richardson, A. J., Scobbie, L., Johnstone, A. M., Fyfe, C., Holtrop, G., Lobley, G. E., Russell, W. R.
    European Journal of Nutrition, vol. 58, no. 3, pp. 1147-1158
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Porcine small and large intestinal microbiota rapidly hydrolyze the masked mycotoxin deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside and release deoxynivalenol in spiked batch cultures in vitro

    Gratz, S., Currie, V., Richardson, A., Duncan, G., Holtrop, G., Farquharson, F., Louis, P., Pinton, P., Oswald, I. P.
    Applied and Environmental Microbiology, vol. 84, no. 2, pp. 1-9
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Masked trichothecene and zearalenone mycotoxins withstand digestion and absorption in the upper GI tract but are efficiently hydrolyzed by human gut microbiota in vitro

    Gratz, S. W., Dinesh, R., Yoshinari, T., Holtrop, G., Richardson, A. J., Duncan, G., MacDonald, S., Lloyd, A., Tarbin, J.
    Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, vol. 61, no. 4, 1600680
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Do Plant-Bound Masked Mycotoxins Contribute to Toxicity?

    Gratz, S. W.
    Toxins, vol. 9, no. 3, 85
    Contributions to Journals: Review articles

  • Effects of Dietary Fibre (Pectin) and/or Increased Protein (Casein or Pea) on Satiety, Body Weight, Adiposity and Caecal Fermentation in High Fat Diet-Induced Obese Rats

    Adam, C. L., Gratz, S. W., Peinado, D. I., Thomson, L. M., Garden, K. E., Williams, P. A., Richardson, A. J., Ross, A. W.
    PloS ONE, vol. 11, no. 5, e0155871
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Butyrylated starch intake can prevent red meat induced O6-methyl-2-deoxyguanosine adducts in human rectal tissue: a randomised clinical trial

    Le Leu, R. K., Winter, J. M., Christophersen, C. T., Young, G. P., Humphreys, K. J., Hu, Y., Gratz, S. W., Miller, R. B., Topping, D. L., Bird, A. R., Conlon, M. A.
    British Journal of Nutrition, vol. 114, no. 2, pp. 220-230
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • High protein weight loss diets: Their impact on satiety and intestinal health

    Gratz, S. W., Russell, W. R., Johnstone, A. M.
    Protein Diets: Nutritional Sources, Health Benefits and Intake Recommendations. Hudson, M. (ed.). Nova Science Publishers Inc, pp. 31-50, 20 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • High protein weight loss diets – their impact on appetite and intestinal health.

    Gratz, S., Russell, W. R., Johnstone, A.
    Protein Diets: Nutritional Sources, Health Benefits and Intake Recommendations. Hudson, M. (ed.). Nova Science Publishers Inc, pp. 31-49, 19 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Influence of dietary carbohydrate and protein on colonic fermentation and endogenous formation of N-nitroso compounds

    Gratz, S., Richardson, A. J., Duncan, S. H., Russell, W. R., Fyfe, C., Johnstone, A. M., Flint, H. J., Holtrop, G.
    Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, vol. 74, no. OCE1, pp. E44
    Contributions to Journals: Abstracts

  • Different types of soluble fermentable dietary fibre decrease food intake, body weight gain and adiposity in young adult male rats

    Adam, C. L., Williams, P. A., Dalby, M. J., Garden, K., Thomson, L. M., Richardson, A. J., Gratz, S. W., Ross, A. W.
    Nutrition & Metabolism, vol. 11, 36
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Annual variation of dietary deoxynivalenol exposure during years of different Fusarium prevalence: a pilot biomonitoring study

    Gratz, S. W., Richardson, A. J., Duncan, G., Holtrop, G.
    Food additives & contaminants. Part A, Chemistry, analysis, control, exposure & risk assessment, vol. 31, no. 9, pp. 1579-1585
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Accumulation of promutagenic DNA adducts in the mouse distal colon after consumption of heme does not induce colonic neoplasms in the western diet model of spontaneous colorectal cancer

    Winter, J., Young, G. P., Hu, Y., Gratz, S. W., Conlon, M. A., Le Leu, R. K.
    Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, vol. 58, no. 3, pp. 550-558
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • SATIN (Satiety Innovation) Project:: Impact of type 3 resistant starch on gut microbiota and metabolites in overweight human volunteers

    McKinnon, H., Romero Gonzalez, R. P. D. C., Fyfe, C. L., Whelan, A., Ze, X., Pesci, I., Farquharson, F. M., Louis, P. G. H., Bosscher, D., Bonnema, A., Ryan, S., Shirazi-Beechey, S. P., Harold, J., Halford, J. C., Duncan, S. H., Johnstone, A., Flint, H. J., Gratz, S.
    ROWETT-INRA 2014 Gut Microbiology: From Sequence to Function. [P143] Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health pp. 122-122, 1 page.
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Other Contributions

  • Influence of diet on colonic fermentation and endogenous formation of N-Nitroso compounds

    Gratz, S. W., Richardson, A. J., Fyfe, C., Johnstone, A. M., Holtrop, G.
    Annals of Nutrition & Metabolism, vol. 63, no. Suppl 1, pp. 193-194
    Contributions to Journals: Abstracts

  • Microbial metabolism and intestinal absorption of the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol and its metabolites in humans

    Gratz, S., Duncan, G., Richardson, A. J.
    Annals of Nutrition & Metabolism, vol. 63, no. Suppl 1, pp. 1806
    Contributions to Journals: Abstracts

  • Human fecal microbiota metabolize deoxynivalenol and deoxynivalenol-3-glucoside and may be responsible for urinary de-epoxy deoxynivalenol

    Gratz, S. W., Duncan, G., Richardson, A. J.
    Applied and Environmental Microbiology, vol. 79, no. 6, pp. 1821-1825
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • The influence of diet on the gut microbiota

    Scott, K. P., Gratz, S. W., Sheridan, P. O., Flint, H. J., Duncan, S. H.
    Pharmacological Research, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 52-60
    Contributions to Journals: Literature Reviews

  • Diet composition is associated with endogenous formation of N-nitroso compounds in obese men.

    Holtrop, G., Johnstone, A. M., Fyfe, C., Gratz, S. W.
    The Journal of Nutrition, vol. 142, no. 9, pp. 1652-1658
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • High-protein, reduced-carbohydrate weight-loss diets promote metabolite profiles likely to be detrimental to colonic health

    Russell, W. R., Gratz, S. W., Duncan, S. H., Holtrop, G., Ince, J., Scobbie, L., Duncan, G., Johnstone, A. M., Lobley, G. E., Wallace, R. J., Duthie, G. G., Flint, H. J.
    The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 93, no. 5, pp. 1062-1072
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Recent perspectives on the relations between faecal mutagenicity, genotoxicity and diet

    Gratz, S. W., Wallace, R. J., El-Nezami, H.
    Frontiers in Pharmacology, vol. 2, pp. 4
    Contributions to Journals: Literature Reviews

  • Applied studies with probiotics: fundamentals for meeting the health claims

    Mykkänen, H., Gratz, S. W., El-Nezami, H.
    Probiotics and Health Claims. Kneifel, W., Salminen, S. (eds.). Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 171-177, 7 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Control of mycotoxin contamination in foods using lactic acid bacteria

    Gratz, S., El-Nezami, H.
    Protective Cultures, Antimicrobial Metabolites and Bacteriophages for Food and Beverage Biopreservation. Lacroix, C. (ed.). Woodhead Publishing
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Probiotics and gut health: A special focus on liver diseases

    Gratz, S., Mykkanen, H., El-Nezami, H. S.
    World Journal of Gastroenterology, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 403-410
    Contributions to Journals: Editorials

  • Effect of high-protein diets on faecal N-nitrosocompounds and genotoxicity of faecal water

    Gratz, S. W., Richardson, A. J., Johnstone, A. M., Lobley, G. E., Flint, H. J., Wallace, R. J.
    Mutagenesis, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 528
    Contributions to Journals: Abstracts

  • Effect of protein and carbohydrate intake on intestinal toxicity of human feces

    Gratz, S., Duncan, S., Richardson, A. J., Johnstone, A., Lobley, G. E., Flint, H. J., Wallace, R. J.
    Annals of Nutrition & Metabolism, vol. 55, no. Suppl. 1, pp. 80
    Contributions to Journals: Abstracts

  • High protein diets impact on microbial metabolites and toxicity in the human large intestine

    Gratz, S., Duncan, S. H., Richardson, A. J., Johnstone, A. M., Lobley, G. E., Flint, H. J., Wallace, R. J.
    Microbial Ecology, vol. 57, no. 3, pp. 572-573
    Contributions to Journals: Abstracts

  • Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain GG restores alkaline phosphatase activity in differentiating Caco-2 cells dosed with the potent mycotoxin deoxynivalenol

    Turner, P. C., Wu, Q. K., Piekkola, S., Gratz, S., Mykkanen, H., El-Nezami, H.
    Food and Chemical Toxicology, vol. 46, no. 6, pp. 2118-2123
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Aflatoxin B1 binding by Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain GG reduces its intestinal transport and toxicity in Caco-2 cells

    Gratz, S., Wu, Q., El-Nezami, H., Juvonen, R., Mykkanen, H., Turner, P. C.
    Annals of Nutrition & Metabolism, vol. 51, no. Suppl1, pp. 143
    Contributions to Journals: Abstracts

  • Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain GG reduces aflatoxin B-1 transport, metabolism, and toxicity in caco-2 cells

    Gratz, S., Wu, Q. K., El-Nezami, H., Juvonen, R. O., Mykkanen, H., Turner, P. C.
    Applied and Environmental Microbiology, vol. 73, no. 12, pp. 3958-3964
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain GG modulates intestinal absorption, fecal excretion, and toxicity of aflatoxin B-1 in rats

    Gratz, S., Taubel, M., Juvonen, R. O., Viluksela, M., Turner, P. C., Mykkanen, H., El-Nezami, H.
    Applied and Environmental Microbiology, vol. 72, no. 11, pp. 7398-7400
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Aflatoxin B-1 binding by a mixture of Lactobacillus and Propionibacterium: In vitro versus ex vivo

    Gratz, S., Mykkanen, H., El-Nezami, H.
    Journal of Food Protection, vol. 68, no. 11, pp. 2470-2474
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Intestinal mucus alters the ability of probiotic bacteria to bind aflatoxin B-1 in vitro

    Gratz, S., Mykkanen, H., Ouwehand, A. C., Juvonen, R., Salminen, S., El-Nezami, H.
    Applied and Environmental Microbiology, vol. 70, no. 10, pp. 6306-6308
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Probiotic bacteria retard the ex vivo absorption of aflatoxin B-1 from chick duodenum

    Gratz, S., El-Nezami, H., Mykkanen, H.
    Toxicology, vol. 191, no. 1, pp. 50
    Contributions to Journals: Abstracts

  • Kinetics of adsorption and desorption of aflatoxin B-1 by viable and nonviable bacteria

    Lee, Y. K., El-Nezami, H., Haskard, C. A., Gratz, S., Puong, K. Y., Salminen, S., Mykkanen, H.
    Journal of Food Protection, vol. 66, no. 3, pp. 426-430
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

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