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The Rowett Institute

Dr Sylvia Duncan

Dr Sylvia Duncan
Dr Sylvia Duncan
Dr Sylvia Duncan

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
ORCiD
Scopus
Google Scholar
Pure
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

View Research Area

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

Courses

Teaching Responsibilities

Course Coordinator MC4014

Contribute lectures and tutorials to Nutrition courses

Publications

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  • Changes in the Abundance of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii Phylogroups I and II in the Intestinal Mucosa of Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Patients with Colorectal Cancer

    Lopez-Siles, M., Martinez-Medina, M., Surís-Valls, R., Aldeguer, X., Sabat-Mir, M., Duncan, S. H., Flint, H. J., Garcia-Gil, L. J.
    Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 28-41
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Faecalibacterium prausnitzii A2-165 has a high capacity to induce IL-10 in human and murine dendritic cells and modulates T cell responses

    Rossi, O., van Berkel, L. A., Chain, F., Tanweer Khan, M., Taverne, N., Sokol, H., Duncan, S. H., Flint, H. J., Harmsen, H. J. M., Langella, P., Samsom, J. N., Wells, J. M.
    Scientific Reports, vol. 6, pp. 1-12
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Enhanced butyrate formation by cross-feeding between Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Bifidobacterium adolescentis

    Rios-Covian, D., Gueimonde, M., Duncan, S. H., Flint, H. J., de Los Reyes-Gavilan, C. G.
    FEMS Microbiology Letters, vol. 362, no. 21, fnv176
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Mucosa-associated Faecalibacterium prausnitzii phylotype richness is reduced in inflammatory bowel disease patients

    Lopez-Siles, M., Martinez-Medina, M., Abellà, C., Busquets, D., Sabat-Mir, M., Duncan, S. H., Aldeguer, X., Flint, H. J., Garcia-Gil, L. J.
    Applied and Environmental Microbiology, vol. 81, no. 21, pp. 7582-7592
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Unique Organization of Extracellular Amylases into Amylosomes in the Resistant Starch-Utilizing Human Colonic Firmicutes Bacterium Ruminococcus bromii

    Ze, X., David, B., Laverde Gomez, J., Dassa, B., Sheridan, P., Duncan, S. H., Louis, P. G. H., Henrissat, B., Juge, N., Koropatkin, N. M., Bayer, E. A., Flint, H. J.
    mBio, vol. 6, no. 5, e01058-15
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Ruminococcal cellulosome systems from rumen to human

    David, Y. B., Dassa, B., Borovok, I., Lamed, R., Koropatkin, N. M., Martens, E. C., White, B. A., Bernalier-Donadille, A., Duncan, S. H., Flint, H. J., Bayer, E. A., Moraïs, S.
    Environmental Microbiology, vol. 17, no. 9, pp. 3407-3426
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Modelling the emergent dynamics and major metabolites of the human colonic microbiota

    Kettle, H., Louis, P. G. H., Holtrop, G., Duncan, S. H., Flint, H. J.
    Environmental Microbiology, vol. 17, no. 5, pp. 1615-1630
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Faecalibacterium prausnitzii Strain HTF-F and Its Extracellular Polymeric Matrix Attenuate Clinical Parameters in DSS-Induced Colitis

    Rossi, O., Khan, M. T., Schwarzer, M., Hudcovic, T., Srutkova, D., Duncan, S. H., Stolte, E. H., Kozakova, H., Flint, H. J., Samsom, J. N., Harmsen, H. J. M., Wells, J. M.
    PloS ONE, vol. 10, no. 4, e0123013
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Links between diet, gut microbiota composition and gut metabolism

    Flint, H. J., Duncan, S. H., Scott, K. P., Louis, P.
    Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, vol. 74, no. 1, pp. 13-22
    Contributions to Journals: Literature Reviews

  • Microbes Central to Human Reproduction

    Reid, G., Brigidi, P., Burton, J. P., Contractor, N., Duncan, S., Fargier, E., Hill, C., Lebeer, S., Martín, R., Mcbain, A. J., Mor, G., O'Neill, C., Rodríguez, J. M., Swann, J., van Hemert, S., Ansell, J.
    American Journal of Reproductive Immunology, vol. 73, no. 1, pp. 1-11
    Contributions to Journals: Review articles

  • 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

  • Impact of diet and individual variation on intestinal microbiota composition and fermentation products in obese men

    Salonen, A., Lahti, L., Salojärvi, J., Holtrop, G., Korpela, K., Duncan, S. H., Date, P., Farquharson, F., Johnstone, A. M., Lobley, G. E., Louis, P., Flint, H. J., de Vos, W. M.
    The ISME Journal, vol. 8, pp. 2218-2230
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Complete genome of a new Firmicutes species belonging to the dominant human colonic microbiota (“Ruminococcus bicirculans”) reveals two chromosomes and a selective capacity to utilize plant glucans

    Wegmann, U., Louis, P., Goesmann, A., Henrissat, B., Duncan, S. H., Flint, H. J.
    Environmental Microbiology, vol. 16, no. 9, pp. 2879-2890
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Rumen cellulosomics: divergent fiber-degrading strategies revealed by comparative genome-wide analysis of six ruminococcal strains

    Dassa, B., Borovok, I., Ruimy-Israeli, V., Lamed, R., Flint, H. J., Duncan, S. H., Henrissat, B., Coutinho, P., Morrison, M., Mosoni, P., Yeoman, C. J., White, B. A., Bayer, E. A.
    PloS ONE, vol. 9, no. 7, e99221
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Phylogenetic distribution of three pathways for propionate production within the human gut microbiota

    Reichardt, N., Duncan, S. H., Young, P., Belenguer, A., McWilliam Leitch, C., Scott, K. P., Flint, H. J., Louis, P.
    The ISME Journal, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 1323-1335
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Mucosa-associated Faecalibacterium prausnitzii and Escherichia coli co-abundance can distinguish Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Inflammatory Bowel Disease phenotypes

    Lopez-Siles, M., Martinez-Medina, M., Busquets, D., Sabat-Mir, M., Duncan, S. H., Flint, H. J., Aldeguer, X., Garcia-Gil, L. J.
    International Journal of Medical Microbiology: IJMM, vol. 304, no. 3-4, pp. 464-475
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Phylogeny, culturing, and metagenomics of the human gut microbiota

    Walker, A. W., Duncan, S. H., Louis, P., Flint, H. J.
    Trends in Microbiology, vol. 22, no. 5, pp. 267-274
    Contributions to Journals: Literature Reviews

  • Bacteroides and Prevotella

    Flint, H. J., Duncan, S. H.
    Encyclopedia of Food Microbiology: Second Edition. Elsevier Inc., pp. 203-208, 6 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • Functional genomics reveals that Clostridium difficile Spo0A coordinates sporulation, virulence and metabolism

    Pettit, L. J., Browne, H. P., Yu, L., Smits, W. K., Fagan, R. P., Barquist, L., Martin, M. J., Goulding, D., Duncan, S. H., Flint, H. J., Dougan, G., Choudhary, J. S., Lawley, T. D.
    BMC Genomics, vol. 15, 160
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • The impact of different DNA extraction kits and laboratories upon the assessment of human gut microbiota composition by 16S rRNA gene sequencing

    Kennedy, N. A., Walker, A. W., Berry, S. H., Duncan, S. H., Farquarson, F. M., Louis, P., Thomson, J. M., Satsangi, J., Flint, H. J., Parkhill, J., Lees, C. W., Hold, G. L., UK IBD Genetics Consortium
    PloS ONE, vol. 9, no. 2, e88982
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Prebiotic stimulation of human colonic butyrate-producing bacteria and bifidobacteria, in vitro

    Scott, K. P., Martin, J. C., Duncan, S. H., Flint, H. J.
    FEMS Microbiology Ecology, vol. 87, no. 1, pp. 30-40
    Contributions to Journals: Articles

  • Faecal microbiota profiling in human volunteers on low and high fruit and vegetable intakes

    Farquharson, F. M., Ze, X., Scobbie, L., Milne, L., Duncan, S. H., Holtrop, G., Flint, H. J., Rungapamestry, V., Duthie, G. G., Bestwick, C. S., Duthie, S. J., Louis, P. G.
    ROWETT-INRA 2014 Gut Microbiology: From Sequence to Function. [P131] Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health pp. 116, 1 page.
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Other Contributions

  • Gut microbiome and obesity

    Flint, H. J., Duncan, S. H., Louis, P. G. H.
    Treatment of the obese patient. Kushner, R. F., Bessesen, D. H. (eds.). 2nd edition. Springer Science+Business Media, pp. 73-82, 10 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters

  • 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

  • Advanced analytical methodologies to study the microbial metabolome of the human gut

    Russell, W. R., Duncan, S. H.
    TrAC - Trends in Analytical Chemistry, vol. 52, pp. 54-60
    Contributions to Journals: Review articles
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