![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
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Teaching Responsibilities
Course Coordinator MC4014
Contribute lectures and tutorials to Nutrition courses
- Publications
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Page 8 of 14 Results 71 to 80 of 134
Faecal microbiota profiling in human volunteers on low and high fruit and vegetable intakes
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 ContributionsGut microbiome and obesity
Treatment of the obese patient. Kushner, R. F., Bessesen, D. H. (eds.). 2nd edition. Springer Science+Business Media, pp. 73-82, 10 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersSATIN (Satiety Innovation) Project:: Impact of type 3 resistant starch on gut microbiota and metabolites in overweight human volunteers
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 ContributionsAdvanced analytical methodologies to study the microbial metabolome of the human gut
TrAC - Trends in Analytical Chemistry, vol. 52, pp. 54-60Contributions to Journals: Review articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trac.2013.08.004
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
A representative of the dominant human colonic Firmicutes, Roseburia faecis M72/1, forms a novel bacteriocin-like substance
Anaerobe, vol. 23, pp. 5-8Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anaerobe.2013.07.006
Expression of Cellulosome Components and Type IV Pili within the Extracellular Proteome of Ruminococcus flavefaciens 007
PloS ONE, vol. 8, no. 6, pp. 1-11Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0065333
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/10278/1/journal.pone.0065333.PDF
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Some are more equal than others: the role of ‘keystone’ species in the degradation of recalcitrant substrates
Gut Microbes, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 236-240Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.4161/gmic.23998
- [OPEN ACCESS] http://aura.abdn.ac.uk/bitstream/2164/5762/1/Some_are_more_equal_than_others.pdf
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
MS-based Methodologies to Study the Microbial Metabolome
Foodomics: Advanced Mass Spectrometry in Modern Food Science and Nutrition. Cifuentes, A. (ed.). John Wiley & Sons Ltd., pp. 221-243, 23 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118537282.ch8
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Major phenylpropanoid-derived metabolites in the human gut can arise from microbial fermentation of protein
Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, vol. 57, no. 3, pp. 523-535Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/mnfr.201200594
The influence of diet on the gut microbiota
Pharmacological Research, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 52-60Contributions to Journals: Literature Reviews- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2012.10.020