![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
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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
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Teaching Responsibilities
Course Coordinator MC4014
Contribute lectures and tutorials to Nutrition courses
- Publications
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Page 11 of 14 Results 101 to 110 of 134
Dietary fibre and the gut microbiota
Nutrition Bulletin, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 201-211Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-3010.2008.00706.x
Proposal of a neotype strain (A1-86) for Eubacterium rectale. Request for an opinion
International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, vol. 58, no. 7, pp. 1735-1736Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1099/ijs.0.2008/004580-0
Prebiotics and the gut microbiota: Evidence for different modes of action
NUTRAfoods: International Journal of Science and Marketing for Nutraceutical Actives, Raw Materials, Finish Products, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 33-39Contributions to Journals: Literature ReviewsImpact of pH on Lactate Formation and Utilization by Human Fecal Microbial Communities
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, vol. 73, no. 20, pp. 6526-6533Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.00508-07
Commensal bacteria in health and disease
Virulence mechanisms of bacterial pathogens. Brogden, K. A., Minion, F. C., Cornick, N., Stanton, T. B., Zhang, Q., Nolan, L. K., Wannemuehler, M. J. (eds.). 4 edition. ASM Press, pp. 101-114, 4 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersAvailability of blueberry phenolics for microbial metabolism in the colon and the potential inflammatory implications
Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, vol. 51, no. 6, pp. 726-731Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/mnfr.200700022
Interactions and competition within the microbial community of the human colon: Links between diet and health
Environmental Microbiology, vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 1101-1111Contributions to Journals: Literature Reviews- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1462-2920.2007.01281.x
Understanding the effects of diet on bacterial metabolism in the large intestine
Journal of Applied Microbiology, vol. 102, no. 5, pp. 1197-1208Contributions to Journals: Literature Reviews- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2672.2007.03322.x
Cultivable bacterial diversity from the human colon
Letters in Applied Microbiology, vol. 44, no. 4, pp. 343-350Contributions to Journals: Literature Reviews- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1472-765X.2007.02129.x
Metabolism of linoleic acid by human gut bacteria: different routes for biosynthesis of conjugated linoleic acid
Journal of Bacteriology, vol. 189, no. 6, pp. 2566-2570Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1128/JB.01359-06