![Dr Sylvia Duncan Dr Sylvia Duncan](/img/200x200/staffpages/uploads/rwt096/S_Duncan_photo.jpg)
BSc PhD
Senior Research Fellow
- About
-
- Email Address
- sylvia.duncan@abdn.ac.uk
- Telephone Number
- +44 (0)1224 438680
- Office Address
Rowett Institute
Forresterhill Campus
Aberdeen
AB25 2ZD
- School/Department
- School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition
- Research
-
Research Overview
The Microbiology group have isolated and characterised many of the most abundant bacterial species that inhabit the human large intestine. A panel of the most interesting strains have also been genome sequenced. Mining these genomes has led to a good understanding of the roles of these mostly anaerobic bacteria in the human colon including their primary metabolic function, such as the formation of short chain fatty acids.
Research team:
Amanda Morris – Research Assistant
Galiana Lo - PhD student
Dr Indrani Mukhopadhya – Research Fellow
Research Areas
Nutrition and Health
Research Specialisms
- Microbiology
Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
Current Research
My current research is focussed on the impact of dietary macronutrients, including protein and carbohydrate content, on modulating the composition of the gut microbiota and metabolic outputs to improve health and prevent disease. The impact of gut environmental factors, including pH and bile salt levels, on modulating the gut microbiota and metabolism are also being studied using in vitro model colonic fermentor systems. We are also interested in bacterial cross feeding of dietary macronutrients by specialist bacterial species. We are also interested lactic acid utilising bacterial species as this is a product that is usually low in healthy colons but can accumulate to high levels in disease states such as inflammatory bowel disease. Further studies are also underway on host-microbe interactions.
More recently, the formation of secondary metabolites, such as polyketides and non-ribosomally synthesised peptides, by gut anaerobes are being studied through genome mining strains, testing their ability to inhibit pathogens and identifying the structure of these peptides as these are potentially pharmaceutically important compounds that may possess anti-microbial and anti-cancer properties.
- Teaching
-
Teaching Responsibilities
Course Coordinator MC4014
Contribute lectures and tutorials to Nutrition courses
- Publications
-
Page 2 of 14 Results 11 to 20 of 134
Survival strategies and metabolic interactions between Ruminococcus gauvreauii and Ruminococcoides bili, isolated from human bile
Microbiology spectrum, vol. 10, no. 4, e0277621Contributions to Journals: ArticlesMicrobial lactate utilisation and the stability of the gut microbiome
Gut Microbiome, vol. 3, e3Contributions to Journals: ArticlesHigher total faecal short chain fatty concentrations correlate with increasing proportions of butyrate and decreasing proportions of branched chain fatty acids across multiple human studies
Gut Microbiome, vol. 3, e2Contributions to Journals: ArticlesDistribution, organization and expression of genes concerned with anaerobic lactate utilization in human intestinal bacteria
Microbial Genomics, vol. 8, no. 1, 000739Contributions to Journals: ArticlesConsumption of a Recommended Serving of Wheat Bran Cereals Significantly Increases Human Faecal Butyrate Levels in Healthy Volunteers and Reduces Markers of Inflammation
Recent Progress in Nutrition, vol. 1, no. 4Contributions to Journals: ArticlesDietary fibre complexity and its influence on functional groups of the human gut microbiota
Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, vol. 80, no. 4, pp. 386–397Contributions to Journals: ArticlesDescription of Ruminococcoides bili gen. nov., sp. nov., a bile resistant bacterium from human bile with autolytic behavior.
International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, vol. 71, no. 8, 004960Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1099/ijsem.0.004960
Human gut Faecalibacterium prausnitzii deploy a highly efficient conserved system to cross-feed on β-mannan-derived oligosaccharides
mBio, vol. 12, no. 3, e03628-20Contributions to Journals: ArticlesImpact of protein on the composition and metabolism of the human gut microbiota and health
Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, vol. 80, no. 2, pp. 173 - 185Contributions to Journals: ArticlesType IV pili are widespread among non-pathogenic Gram-positive gut bacteria with diverse carbohydrate utilization patterns
Environmental Microbiology, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 1527-1540Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.15362
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus