![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 9 of 14 Results 81 to 90 of 134
The gut microbial metabolome: Modulation of cancer risk in obese individuals
Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, vol. 72, no. 1, pp. 178-188Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0029665112002881
- [ONLINE] View publication in Scopus
Anaerostipes hadrus comb. nov., a dominant species within the human colonic microbiota; reclassification of Eubacterium hadrum Moore et al. 1976
Anaerobe, vol. 18, no. 5, pp. 523-529Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anaerobe.2012.09.002
The role of the gut microbiota in nutrition and health
Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology, vol. 9, no. 10, pp. 577-589Contributions to Journals: Literature Reviews- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2012.156
Microbial degradation of complex carbohydrates in the gut
Gut Microbes, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 289-306Contributions to Journals: Literature Reviews- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.4161/gmic.19897
Alterations in microbiota and fermentation products in equine large intestine in response to dietary variation and intestinal disease
British Journal of Nutrition, vol. 107, no. 7, pp. 989-995Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007114511003825
Ruminococcus bromii is a keystone species for the degradation of resistant starch in the human colon
The ISME Journal, vol. 6, no. 8, pp. 1535-1543Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2012.4
Micro-organisms in the human gut: diversity and function
biochemical society focussed meeting, pp. 4-9Contributions to Journals: Literature ReviewsRates of production and utilization of lactate by microbial communities from the human colon
FEMS Microbiology Ecology, vol. 77, no. 1, pp. 107-119Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-6941.2011.01086.x
High-protein, reduced-carbohydrate weight-loss diets promote metabolite profiles likely to be detrimental to colonic health
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, vol. 93, no. 5, pp. 1062-1072Contributions to Journals: Articles- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.110.002188
Impact of Intestinal Microbial Communities upon Health
Beneficial microorganisms in multicellular life forms. Rosenberg, E., Gophna, U. (eds.). Springer Verlag, pp. 243-252, 252 pagesChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-21680-0_18